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47th Congress, ) SENATE. ( Ex. Doo, 

) I Ko. 71. 



1st Session. 



REPORTS 



OF 

/ 



CAPTAIN L. A. BEARDSLEE, 

IT. S. NAVY, 



RELATIVE TO 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA, 



AND THE 



OPERATIONS OF THE U. S. S. JAMESTOWN 



UNDER HIS COMMAND, 



WHILE IN THE WATERS OF THAT TERRITORY. 




WASHINGTON: 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFIOE. 

1882. 



1 



3 



V 






LETTER 

FROM 

THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, 



TRANSMITTING, 



In response to Senate resolution of January 18, 1882, the reports of Capt. 
L. A. Beardslee, United States Navy, relating to affairs in the Territory 
of Alaska, and the operations of the TJ. S. ship Jamestown, under his 
command, while in the waters of that Territory. 



January 24, 1882. — Referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs and ordered to be 

printed. 



Navy Department, 
Washington, January 19, 1882. 
Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the resolution 
of the Senate of January 18, 1882, and to transmit the reports of Capt. 
L. A. Beardslee, United States Navy, relative to affairs in the Territory 
of Alaska, and the operations of the United States ship Jamestown, 
under his command, while in the waters of that Territory. 
I have the honor to be, verv respectfully, vour obedient servant, 

WILLIAM H. HUNT, 

Secretary of the Navy. 
Hon. David Davis, 

President of the Senate. 



LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 



Capt. L. A. Beardslee to the Secretary of the Navy. 

Navy Department, 
Washington, B. C., April 28, 1881. 
Sir : I have the honor to submit herewith a report prepared by ine 
in obedience to the orders of the department, dated November 17, 1879, 
in which I am instructed to prepare a report of my operations while 
in command of the U. S. S. Jamestown, stationed at Sitka, Alaska, 
which order was subsequently modified by verbal instructions to in- 
clude in the report such information in regard to Alaska as I had ob- 
tained during my command. 

I have therefore added papers treating on the character of the country 
and of its inhabitants, its resources, and meteorological phenonema. The 
collation and arrangement of the data on this subject, although em- 
braced in twenty pages, has occupied a large proportion of the time since 
I was assigned to the duty. 

I most respectfully submit, in connection with this report, the accom- 
panying copies of letters from the honorable Secretary of the Navy, E. 
W. Thompson, and the chief of the Bureau of Navigation. 
I am, very respectfully, 

L. A. BEAEDSLEE, 

Captain, U. S. N. 
Hon. Wm. H. Hunt, 
Secretary of the Navy. 



Chief of the Bureau of Navigation to Captain Beardslee. 

Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department, 

Washington, November 26, 1880. 
Sir : Having been relieved of the command of the United States ship 
Jamestown, the bureau takes pleasure in expressing herewith its appre- 
ciation of the manner in which you conducted the surveys of the several 
channels and the many islands and shoals of Sitka Bay, &c, during the 
two seasons the Jamestown was under your command, and it begs fur- 
ther to say that the vast amount of valuable data rendered bears evi- 
dence that the surveys were intelligently conceived and systematically 
and energetically carried out, reflecting credit upon you as commanding 
officer, and upon those under your command for the zeal and profes- 
sional skill displayed. 

Very respectfullv, your obedient servant, 

WM. D. WHITING, 



Commander L. A. Beardslee, U. S. N., 

Washington, D. C. 



Chief of Bureau. 



6 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

The Secretary of the Navy to Captain Beardslee. 

Navy Department, 
Washington, November 30, 1880. 
Sir: The department omitted, at the time of your detachment from 
the command of the Jamestown, to express its approbation of your 
course regarding matters in Alaska. The condition of that Territory 
was such that the presence of a war vessel would have been of little 
use without a commanding officer of rare judgment and discretion. 

Your course while in command met with the entire approbation of the 
department, and tended to restore order and preserve peace. The condi- 
tion of the people of all classes in that country, where no law existed, 
was much improved by the measures adopted by you, and much that 
.you did was the result of your good judgment, as you were required to 
act promptly and without the advantage of advice or instructions from 
the department. 

Your successor in command commends the admirable condition in 
which he found affairs in Alaska, and attributes it to the wise course 
pursued by you. 

Yery respectfully, 

E, W. THOMPSON, 
Secretary of the Navy. 

Commander L. A. Beardslee, IT. S. K, Washington. 



REPORT 

AS TO THE 

OPERATIONS OF THE U. S. SHIP JAMESTOWN, 

THIRD RATE, 

Under command of Commander L. A. Beardslee, 

AND 

STATIONED AT SITKA, ALASKA, JUNE, 1879, TO SEPTEMBER, 1880, INCLUSIVE 

INCLUDING 

ACQUIRED INFORMATION IN REGARD TO THE TERRITORY OF 
ALASKA, ITS PEOPLE, RESOURCES, AND CLIMATE. 



IN FIVE PARTS. 

Part I.— Operations in connection with United States citizens. 

Part II.— " " " Indians. 

Part III.— " " " Hydrography. 

Part IV. — Meteorological. 

Part V.— Remarks in regard to country, natives, and resources. 



PAET I 



OPERATIONS IN CONNECTION WITH UNITED STATES 

CITIZENS. 



REPORTS 

RELATIVE TO 

AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



PART I. 

OPERATIONS OF THE JAMESTOWN IN CONNECTION WITH 
AFFAIRS OF UNITED STATES CITIZENS LIVING IN 
ALASKA. 

The Jamestown was placed iu commission at the Mare Island Yard 
on the 8th of May, 1879. 

It being considered important tbat she should reach her station as 
quickly as possible, she was very hurriedly fitted out, and sailed for 
Alaska on the 22d of May. 

The department's instructions to the commanding officer were par- 
tially as follows: "Proceed to Sitka, Alaska, and relieye the U. S. ship 
Alaska. Communicate from time to time, as opportunity offers, with 
the department as to affairs in the Territory, looking out for the inter- 
ests of citizens of the United States, and rendering them such protec- 
tion as may be required"; to "make such soundings and hydrographic 
examination as the nature of the route and existing charts will sug- 
gest"; and " while at the station to execute surveys and examinations 
of harbors, islands, shoals, &c, as far as the nature of the service and 
available means will permit." 

I had received, also, verbal instructions from the honorable Secretary 
of the Navy, given on the eve of my departure from Washington, to 
assume the command, which in general terms were that I should study 
the situation of affairs in that Territory, and use my utmost endeavors 
to restore and establish permanently harmonious relations between the 
white settlers and the native Indians of the Territoi y, to which end I 
was authorized (there being no governing power or code of laws«in ex- 
istence iu the Territory) to use my own discretion in all emergencies 
that might arise. 

Subsequently, under date of July 26, 1879, I having reported certain 
actions upon my part at Sitka, which did not properly pertain to the 
jurisdiction of the commanding officer of a man-of-war, the Secretary of 
the Navy wrote as follows : 

The department entirely approves of what you have done, and submits the future 
of your action to your discretion, until something shall occur to render specific in- 
structions necessary. * * * In the mean time the department has full confidence 
in your wisdom, capacity, and discretion to dispose of such matters as may require 
your intervention during your stay in Sitka. 

These broad instructions, both verbal and written, were of great value 
and importance to me, and enabled me, with full confidence of approval 

11 



12 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

of my course, to meet such emergencies as arose, in such manner as 
seemed to me right and best ; and I did not feel called upon through lack 
of authority to permit natural law to be violated while my command 
provided me with physical force sufficient to prevent such violation. 

The Jamestown sailed from San Francisco on the 22d of May. Head 
winds forced her well to the westward, and stormy weather prevented 
us from obtaining much hydrographic information, other than that ob- 
tained by the ordinary observations, while en route. 

Our time was fully occupied in getting the ship in order ; she having 
been fitted out in great haste, after baring been very greatly changed 
in nearly every respect, from her former man-of-war shape, by succes- 
sive transformation to receiving ship, and u school-ship " for the State 
of California. 

Our crew was short and green, and most of the watch officers inex- 
perienced in handling sailing vessels, one having never kept a deck 
watch except upon monitors and tugs. 

We arrived off Cape Edgecomb on the 12th of June, and with great 
difficulty made our way through the outlying reefs and islands to a 
point within eight miles of Sitka Harbor; but were forced by the thick 
weather of a southeast storm to give up our attempts to reconcile the 
actual positions of various islands and reefs with those assigned upon 
our charts, and to indentify the same by our sailing directions, for both 
charts and directions were very erroneous ; and even had they been cor- 
tect, there were no landmarks which could be distinctly recognized, on 
account of the densely wooded background of the hills in the rear of 
Sitka, into whieh the many wooded islands blended. 

We ran to sea, and remained in the offing until the 14th of June r 
when a northwest wind cleared the weather and we ran in until seen 
and signalized by the United States steamer Alaska, which came out 
and towed us in to the eastern anchorage of Sitka. 

But for her services the Jamestown would have been compelled either 
to run great risks or to again run to sea, for of the three channels into 
the harbor at that time kno vn, in one the wind was dead ahead, and 
the channel too narrow for working to windward, and in the others 
high land produced calms, and the water was too deep for anchoring. 

It became at once evident that the order to "execute surveys." v^c, 
would be well obeyed by a careful and thorough survey of these ap- 
proaches, the establishment of suitable beacons and buoys, and the eon- 
struction of a correct chart. 

During the summer and autumn of 1879 these surveys were accom- 
plished, the beacons built, and the chart prepared. 

The Alaska was relieved by the Jamestown, and on the 16th of June 
she sailed for San Francisco. 

The eastern harbor, where we were lying, was superior to the western 
one, in that the holding ground was good, and there was plenty of room 
to swing at single anchor, but inferior in that it was exposed to the force 
of the seas in southeasterly gales, and that from it our guus could not 
reach the Indian village should necessity arise, there being government 
houses in range. 

Therefore, on the 18th of June, the ship was warped into the western 
harbor and moored with six anchors, head and stern, heading south- 
east, our port battery bearing upon the Indian village, distant about 
five hundred yards. 

We remained at these moorings during the fifteen months of my com- 
mand, except when occasionally blown from them by the southerly gales. 

As instructed, I began at once to study the situation of affairs at Sitka 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 13 

and to familiarize myself with the customs, laws, and superstitions of the 
Indians, in order that I might be able, through knowledge thus ac- 
quired, to reduce the hostility which had arisen between them and the 
whites, and to bring- the two races into harmonious relations. 

I communicated to the department by every opportunity, as instructed, 
these opportunities being, with but few exceptions, monthly. A portion 
of the dispatches sent by me covering- a period of seven months, viz, 
from June 15, 1879, to January 22, 1880, have been published in Senate 
Ex. Doc. Xo. 145, Forty-sixth Congress, second session. 

This report will consist principally of the matter contained in subse- 
quent dispatches, with such additions and comments as may seem advis- 
able upon a review of the whole subject, together with such repetition of 
the matter already published as may prove necessary to make of this a 
complete and connected document, in which the various subjects touched 
upon will be treated separately in due chronological sequence, instead of 
asm the dispatches on file, being- subject to the interruptions due to the 
necessity of reporting on sundry matters connected with the ship alone, 
and having no bearing on Alaskan affairs. 

I will first describe briefly the situation of affairs in Sitka and vicinity 
at the 'date of our arrival, in June, 1879. 

We found a community consisting of 360 persons, who, through birth, 
naturalization, or statement, and by the terms of our treaty with Eussia, 
were to be considered as citizens of the United States. Of these, 34 
were so by birth, 79 by naturalization or statement, and 247 by our 
treaty, of which a large proportion were women and children. 

This community was living side by side with a tribe of Indians, whose 
village was divided from the white settlement by the remains of a stock- 
ade, now forming the garden fence of the westernmost government 
building, occupied by the collector of customs. These Indians, having 
for many years been governed, first by the Eussians and subsequently 
by our Army, had been kept down with a strong hand. 

The successive withdrawal of all military force, and the failure to 
substitute in its stead any form of civil government, had left these two 
communities to get along with each other as best they might. 

The Indians, who are not naturally savages, greatly outnumbered 
the male whites (there being from 100 to 200 of them in summer, and 
from 500 to 600 in winter, of whom, however, over half were women 
and children), and through their tribal and family relations they were 
able at any time to greatly increase their force, by drawing upon other 
tribes located at several villages upon the islands of the Alexander 
Archipelago, within two or three days' canoe distance. 

Petty quarrels and disputes had from time arisen between the two 
races, and the Indians had learned that while with them there would 
be, in case of trouble with the whites, a unity of cause and action,* with 
the latter there would not, for as a general thing each white man acted 
for himself, there being no such thing as public spirit or community of 
interest in Sitka at that time. 

The general character of the whites was not such as would tend to 
produce or maintain in the Indians any great respect or fear, and they 
were regarded by the Indians as outlaws and cast-offs of their country, 
many of the Creoles being but little above the Indians in their qualifi- 
cations and despised by them, while of the white settlers, the traders 
and saloon keepers were in strong opposition and in general hated each 
other cordially. 

These quarrels were aggravated by drunkenness, the Indians having 
learned from the whites the secret of making very powerful rum from 



14 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

flour aucl molasses, which materials the whites shop-keepers furnished 
them freely in exchange for their pelts and produce, thus, for sake of 
gain, bringing upon themselves the dangers which they feared. 

These quarrels had culminated in November, 1878, in the killing of a 
white man named Brown, at the Hot Springs, by Kot-ko-wot, an Indian 
of the Kaksati family, which family is second in power of the Sitka 
Indians, it consisting of about 10 men and 125 women and children. 

The murderer and an accomplice named Okh-o-not were arrested by 
Indians of the Kok-wa-ton family, sent out by Annahootz, their chief, 
brought to Sitka and lodged in the guard-house on the 6th of February,, 
1879. 

This arrest naturally caused great excitement among the Indians, and 
a big potalatch, or drunk, began in the ranch, during which some of the 
Kaksatis attempted to release the prisoners. They were prevented from 
entering the white settlement by the Kok-wa-tons, headed by Annahootz r 
and assisted by some of the Kaksatis. 

The citizens formed themselves into a company, and for three days 
stood guard, and there can be no doubt that during this period a very 
slight inciting cause would have produced a night attack upon the set- 
tlement, which would have resulted in a massacre; but the unexpected 
combination of the whites in self defense deterred the Indians (who are 
cowardly when not drunk), as did also the influence of the more pru- 
dent men among them. 

No further attempt was made by the Kaksatis to give trouble; and 
on the 9th both the prisouers were placed on board of the mail steamer 
California, which on the 10th started with them for Portland, carryings 
also some of the Kok-wa-ton Indians as witnesses to testify before the 
United States court of Oregon. 

This steamer bore also an appeal from the thoroughly alarmed citi- 
zens of Sitka, to the captain of any of Her Majesty's ships at Esqui- 
mault, for immediate assistance, which appeal was at once responded to 
by Capt. H. Holmes A'Court, who was, at the date of the arrival of 
the California at Victoria, in command of H. M. ship Osprey, lying at 
Esquimault, where the English maintain a naval station, with drv-dock. 
&c. 

Captain A'Court, without seeking instructions, started at once for 
Sitka, and arrived there on the 1st of March, and in his ofticial report 
he states: 

On my arrival at Sitka, which from bad and thick weather was delayed until March 
1, I found the inhabitants in a state of great auxiety and alarm, the chief (Katlaan) 
being expected back by the computation of the Indians the next day. when there is 
no doubt an immediate attack would have taken place. 

On Sunday, March 22, the revenue cutter Oliver Wolcott arrived from Port Town- 
shend. The next day I met Captain Selden, by appointment, at the collector's office. 
After talking it over they both expressed so strong an opinion, in which I fully con- 
curred, that the Oliver Wolcott alone was inadequate for the defense of the place, and 
that if I left affairs would resume their former state, that I decided to remain at least 
until the arrival of the California, by which ship I was in hopes some further assist- 
ance would be sent. The reason for arriving at the conclusion that the Wolcott is in- 
sufficient for the protection of the inhabitants is, that although she would be able to 
destroy the Indian village, she carrying three 24-pounders, yet in consequence of the 
small number in her crew, in all, I believe. 36, she would be unable to afford any ma- 
terial assistance for the protection of women and children, or to check the Indians in 
sacking the town. 

I am also of the opiniou that the destruction of the Indian village is a matter that 
admits of a question, as there are a great number of friendly Indians, who have 
lodges and property there, the destruction of which, and possibly the loss of some of 
their lives, would tend to make them cast their lot with the others. * * 

The Indians are fully aware of the Aveakness of the Oliver Wolcott, and on her 
arrival said openly that they were not afraid of her. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 15 

In conclusion, I beg to state that I feel certain that the presence of the Oliver Wol- 
cott and this ship has averted a serious calamity, and it is my firm conviction that 
nothing but permanent protection, and some sort of government having authority, 
will enable the white people to live here without molestation from the Indians, to 
carry on their trade and develop the resources of the country ; and if I may venture 
to do so, without being considered presumptuous, I would suggest that the protec- 
tion should take the form of a man-of-war, in preference to troops (although they 
might be combined with advantage), as, being movable, a ship could, at various times, 
visit the numerous tribes and villages scattered along the coast, and also be usefully 
employed in surveying the inner channels, of which little is known at present. 

I have quoted thus at length from the report of Captain A'Court, for 
two reasons : the first of which is, that the service he rendered to our 
citizens entitles his views to recognition; and, secondly, his views and 
suggestions, based upon his experience of a month, coincide closely 
with my own, formed almost as quickly, and never entirely abandoned 
during my fifteen months' stay in Alaska (although in some respects- 
modified). 

Tbe United States steamer Alaska arrived at Sitka on the 3d of April,, 
and the Osprey returned to her station at Esquimault, and a few days 
later the Oliver Wolcott left also. 

The following petition was sent to Victoria by the Osprey, and thence 
telegraphed to Washington : 

To the President of the United States: 

In behalf of 300 residents of this city, we ask protection for our lives. When the* 
ship Alaska leaves us we will be helpless. The Indians are ready now to attack, and 
may as soon as she goes; the danger is immediate. 

(Signed bv Alex. Milletick, G. W. Eichter, J. Corcoran, T. H. McGuin, J. Schmeig r 
S. Milletich,Thos. Galleni, Rev. N. G. Metropolsky.) 

The United States ship Jamestown was at anchor in Sitka Harbor in 
a little over two months from the date of the foregoing petition. 

From February 6 until March 1, Sitka was without protection other 
than that afforded by the combination of the whites in self-defense; and 
again during the temporary absence of the Alaska. During these pe- 
riods no attempts were made by the Indians to in any way molest the 
whites, which quiet upon their part convinced me that some strong in- 
fluence restrained them; this influence I searched for, and in due time 
discovered. 

The news of the execution of the murderer and of the dissection of 
his body produced considerable excitement among the Indians. The 
chief of the family, and most of the leading men, admitted that the ex- 
ecution was just, in that the man having taken a life had thus forfeited 
his own, but they were very dissatisfied with the method, aud much 
more so with the disposition made of the body. 

I had this matter brought up to me many times, and it was with great 
difficulty that I could reconcile the Indians to the state of affairs. They 
said to me, in substance, " This man was hung upon the testimony of 
two of his enemies ; he was in a strange country where he had no friends, 
and had he not been guilty it would have been all the same, he could 
not have proved it. ^Yhat is to hinder any one of us from being treated 
in the same way ? He was guilty and it is right he was killed, but he 
should have had a fair trial." 

I do not flatter myself that I succeeded at all in my attempts to ex- 
plain to them about the dissection of the body. By their laws, the man 
having paid with his life for the life he had taken, the affair was set- 
tled, but the subsequent dissection and burial, according to their ideas, 
inflicted upon him a punishment far beyond his deserts, inasmuch as 
by this treatment of the body the man's chances for future happiness 



16 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

were entirely annihilated, which would not have been the case could it 
have boon burned with dno ceremonies. I endeavored to convince the 
Indians o( the folly oi' this belief, but failed, as I did whenever I at- 
tempted to combat their superstitions, which are too deeply rooted to 
be eradicated by any efforts except those of consistent missionaries 
gifted with common sense. 

It became evident very soon after our arrival that one of the greatest 
of the causes which tended to produce the unsettled condition of af- 
fairs in the two communities was the want of a leader. There was no 
one among the whites competent or willing to assume this position, ex- 
cept the collector, Colonel Ball, and he was utterly unprovided with 
means to carry into effect any exercise of authority which he might 
deem advisable to assume. 

A community composed of Indians, Creoles, and white men of vari- 
ous nationalities, including English, Irish, German, Austrian, Italian, 
Turks, and Jews, among whom were numbers of idle, dissolute char- 
acters, and a sprinkling of men who, through experience with law, had 
learned to have no good opinion of it, and had sought Sitka as a home 
because there the law could not reach them — could not be governed and 
kept iu order by any person unprovided with physical force sufficient to 
meet all emergencies. Quite a number of the better class of the whites 
were content to abide by the decision of the collector upon disputed 
points, they respecting his position as " sole civil official of the govern- 
meut, v and his legal knowledge ; but even of these but a very small 
proportion were ready or willing to give him any assistance, either in 
person or by contribution of funds to be expended for the public good ; 
and there was a large number, among whom were representatives of 
both the Creoles and whites, who were opposed to any authority which 
would make efforts to restrain disorder. Stills for the manufacture of 
hoo-che-noo were in operation in a great many of the houses of both 
Creoles and whites, and the use of this rum was very common with them, 
and it was dispensed freely to the Indians. 

The evil effects of a debauch on hoo-che-noo probably exceed those 
from the use of any other known liquor 5 and, when under its influence, 
men, at other times fairly orderly, become crazy and dangerous. 

The Creoles, white men, and Indians who manufactured this liquor 
were able to obtain from all but one or two of the " merchants " all of the 
necessary ingredients, which were simply flour, molasses, and yeast. 
And the law, which made it an offense punishable by fine and imprison- 
ment to sell or barter or give liquor to an Indian, had become a dead 
letter through the easy and lawful substitution of the above ingredients. 

The importation of liquor had been to a great extent prevented by 
the regulations of the Treasury Department, which forbade the clearing 
from other ports of vessels carrying it to Alaska ; but all liquor which 
escaped the notice of the custom-house officers on the departure of ves- 

- for Alaska stood a very good chance of being landed safely upon 
its arrival at Sitka, the time and attention of the collector being taken 
up in the necessary duties of his office, among which those connected 
with the receiving and delivering of the mail occupied considerable ; 
the deputy collector was an invalid, and the special deputies employed 
upon the arrival of each steamer men whose experience did not qualify 
them to discover and outwit the various smuggling devices resorted to. 

The arrival of the Jamestown was welcomed by all as furnishing the 
solution to the various problems. I, as her commanding officer, being 
provided with sufficient power to control dangerous characters, to sup- 
press illicit distilling and traffic, and to protect those who needed pro- 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA, 17 

tection, and with orders so broad in their scope that I would be able to 
pursue any course I might think best to adopt, fell naturally into the 
position of head to this otherwise headless community. 

Both whites and Indians manifested a disposition to rely upon the 
government forces for everything, and to look upon me, the command- 
ing officer, as a representative of the government stmt in answer to their 
appeal, to supply all of the deficiencies incident to the entire absence of 
any other governing power or code of laws. 

The question as to what extent the peculiar condition of affairs would 
justify me in stretching the discretionary orders furnished me, whether 
to that of assuming functions which would properly pertain to civil offi- 
cers alone, were there such in the Territory, embarrassed me exceed- 
ingly, and in assuming such functions, my want of familiarity with duties 
of this nature exposed me to the risk of making serious errors, the con- 
sequence of which might tend to deprive the presence of the James- 
town at Sitka of all value. The problem presented to me was how to gov- 
ern a mixed community of whites and Indians with no code of laws 
but the Revised Statutes of the United States, the United States Naval 
Regulations, and the treaty with Kussia. 

I was fully cognizant of the fact that neither my commission nor my 
instructions, broad as were the latter, conferred upon me lawful power 
to make an arrest of a citizen, or inflict a punishment ; yet I was equally 
certain that unless I did assume the responsibility of doing both, the 
presence of the Jnmestown at Sitka would have been comparatively 
profitless, for among both the whites and Indians there were men who 
were dangerous to the rest of the community, and who it was necessary to 
control by force, and we alone had that. I was fully convinced that an 
assumption of the functions of governor by myself would prove unsuccess- 
ful unless I should receive the consent and support of the people whom 
I assumed to govern. Should the Indians refuse to recognize my au- 
thority, the means at my disposal were not sufficient to enforce obe- 
dience; and if the whites refused, there was no method which I could 
adopt to coerce them which would not render me personally liable to a 
civil proceeding. 

SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT ADOPTED. 

Fortunately the white community required but little exercise of au- 
thority. Each man, wrapped up in his own affairs, interfered as little 
as possible with those of his neighbor; and I found that it would be 
good policy to refrain from in any way interfering with their affairs, ex- 
cept when necessary to prevent or imnish crime, or check actions which 
were liable to produce trouble with the Indians. 

The majority of the wdiites were of the Creole class, who are quiet,, 
harmless, apathetic, uneducated, and improvident, as a classy although 
there are of them a few most estimable people, also a few who were of 
a very low order, inferior to the average of the Indians, of slightly less 
pure blood. All had become accustomed to the vigorous government 
of the Eussians, and subsequently of our troops, upon whom they relied 
for protection and employment; were utterly unaccustomed to governing 
themselves, and accepted readily the assumption of authority over them, 
considering themselves well repaid for any sacrifice of pride by the pro- 
tection which resulted. 

Many of the lower class of Creoles were, as stated, Tile characters, who- 
spent all their earnings in hoo-che-noo, and who- when drunk were very 
S. Ex. 71 2 



IS AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

brutal ami treated their families and other unprotected persons outrage' 

oosly. , , _' 

0( the remainder of the whites a portion were shop-keepers, Indian 
traders, saloon keepers, and loafers, who, with no ostensible employ- 
ment, supported themselves by distilling hoo-che-noo, which they traded 
with the Indians for food, rivaled in this respect by most of the shop- 
keepers, who sold to the Indians molasses and other ingredients of the 
rum. Another portion was composed of miners, who were engaged in 
their business at Silver Bay, 12 miles east of Sitka; of salmon canners, 
at the cannery in Hunter's Bay (Old Sitka), 9 miles to the westward; 
and oi invalids of all classes, more or less of whom congregated at the 
Hot Springs, 15 miles to the southward, to obtain the benefit of their 
waters. 

As a general thing all of these people were orderly and willing to 
leave the whole task of governing, as well as all other public business, to 
whoever would assume it, each occupying himself with his own affairs. 

THE LIQUOR QUESTION. 

The Alaska was hardly clear of the bay when I was called upon to 
lend a portion of our strength to the collector, as shown by the follow- 
ing correspondence, in the prevention of smuggling liquor by the mail 
steamer California. When I received the first letter I had not yet be- 
come acquainted with Collector Ball, nor had he consulted me on the 

subject: 

Custom-House, Sitka, Alaska, 

Collectors Office, June W, 1879. 
Captain : Having received information that the landing of liquors is going on ex- 
tensively here through the bands on the steamer California, whenever she is in port, 
and not having myself the necessary force to stop it effectually, I have to request that 
you will let me have, on her arrival, a force of eight men, under some trustworthy 
officer, to make the necessary search of the vessel, and to guard her, and superin- 
tend the landing of her freight. Captain Brown, of the Alaska, had made arrange- 
ments to do this for me, and I hope you will see the importance of carrying it out. 
Mr. Martin will explain to you the plan we propose to adopt. 
Very truly, yours, 

M. D. BALL, 

Collector. 
•Captain Beardslee, 

United States Steamer Jamestown. 

United States Ship Jamestown, 

Sitka, Alaska, June 17, 1879. 
Sip : Yours of the 16th instant is received. In answer to your request that I should 
furnish you with the assistance of an officer and men to prevent the smuggling of 
liquor. &c, from the mail steamer California upon her arrival, I would state that if. 
.after fall consultation between ourselves, I shall retain my present intentions, I shall 
furnish you with the assistance asked for. 

I must, however, understand the status of affairs more thoroughly than I now do be- 
fore giving a positive answer. 



Very respectfully, 
M. D. Ball, Esq., Collector. 



L. A. BEARDSLEE, 
Commander, Commanding, Senior Officer Present. 



United States Ship Jamestown, 

Sitka, Alaska, June 17, 1879. 
The consultation between ourselves in regard to the prevention of smuggling 
from the California has confirmed me in my intention to furnish you with the aid 
requested. 
A party will be detailed with suitable instructions. 
Very respectfully, 

L. A. BEARDSLEE, 
>, t^ t, ^ ^ » Commander, Commanding, Senior Officer Present. 

M. D. Ball, Esq., Collector. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 19 

Custom-House, Sitka, Alaska, 
Collectors Office, June 23, 1879—0.30 p. in. 
Sill: The inspection of the cargo of the California has just been concluded, and lias 
resulted in the finding of six cases of whisky, improperly or insufficiently marked and 
without claimant, and which Was doubtlessly intended for landing here. It will be 
forfeited under the law. 
Very truly, yours, 

M. D. BALL, Collector. 
Capt. L. A. Beardslee. 

I had, as indicated by the correspondence, detailed an officer and four 
men, who were sworn in as deputies by the collector. This correspond- 
ence was submitted to the department with my dispatch dated June 
23, 1879. 

Daring the month of July I requested the collector, unofficially, not 
to again call upon me, for the following reasons, which were given in my 
dispatch of July 15, 1879 : 

By the request of the collector, and in pursuance of an arrangement of his with my 
predecessor, Captain Brown, I, last 'month, detailed an officer and men to assist the 
collector in the prevention of smuggling of* liquor by the mail steamer. I have since 
then had time to weigh the subject, and this time decline to so act. Aside from my 
apprehension that in so doing I was not acting lawfully, I feel that it is simply 
ridiculous to take strong measures to stop a little whisky and protect, at the same 
time, tons of molasses, a gallon of which will do as much harm as a barrel of the 
former. 

My resolve to refrain from interfering in this matter became known, 
and removed a great check from the traffic, which, as the white popula- 
tion increased by the influx of niiners, tradesmen, and others, grew to be, 
a serious evil, and I submitted to the department the following dispatch, 
in hopes of receiving some instruction for my guidance : 

United States Ship Jamestowk, 

Sitka, April 5, 1880. 

Sir : It is very probable that a question will arise here before a great while, in which 
I shall be called upon to act, and in regard to which I do not feel assured as to the 
exact nature of my duty. 

This question will be in regard to the suppression of, importation of, and traffic in 
distilled spirits in Sitka and vicinity, including the mining settlement at Silver Bay, 
and the caunery at Hunter's Bay. 

This importation by the steamer California has increased to such an extent that 
about one-half of the white population of Sitka are more or less engaged in it. 

I have studied the problem, and, to facilitate the deliberation of the department, 
submit herewith a brief history of the question. In September, 1837, General Hal- 
leek, with the desire to prevent the sale of whisky to the Indians, requested of the Sec- 
retary of War that the President, by proclamation, would declare the newly-acquired 
Territory of Alaska as Indian territory, and the request being referred to the Hon. 
William H. Seward, Secretary of State, was by him submitted to Mr. E. Peshine 
Smith, examiner to Court of Claims, who gave his opinion that on the 20th day of 
June, 1867 (the date of the signing the treaty by President Johnson), "the new terri- 
tory became a part of the Indian country." Mr. Seward, inclosing this opinion, states 
that the President would retain the request of General Halleck for further consider- 
ation. 

February 4, 1870, President Grant, in pursuance of the authority vested in him by 
the provisions of the second section of the act approved July 27, 1858 (sec. 1955 U. S. 
Rev. Stat.), issued a proclamation prohibiting the importation of distilled spirits iuto 
the district of Alaska, and the Secretary of the Treasury, Hon. George S. Boutwell, 
issued a circular order instructing collectors of customs as to their duty in carrying 
out the terms of this proclamation. 

In March, 1873, the act of 1868 was ameuded by adding to it two sections, viz, sec- 
tions 20 and 21 of act of 1834, which forbid the sale of liquor to Indians, and prohibit 
the setting up of distilleries. 

Ill 1878 the collector of Sitka applied to the honorable Secretary of the Treasury 
for instructions in regard to the importation of molasses : and in reply received a 
letter in which is incorporated the opinion of Attorney-General Devens (a copy of 



'20 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

which is inclosed, marked FA to the effect that, except in the matter referred to in 
these two Ejections, Alaska cannot be considered as an Indian country. 

M\ connection with the question is as follows: 

Upon the arrival of the ship in June, 1879, Iwas requested by the collector todetail 
a loree to search the mail steamer California upon arrival, to seize any liquor, &c., 
which request I complied with. Results are shown by the inclosed correspondence, 

marked A. 1>. C, D. , . , j ±- ± -i xi i 

Before the arm al of the next steamer, m July, I having bad time to study the suh- 
i 1 1 concluded it W as not consistent with my duty to order those under my command 
to act as revenue officers, and I declined to repeat the act, and for other reasons given 
in my letter of July the 15th, which letter met with the approval of the department ; 
and since that time I have in no way interfered in the matter, audthe traffic is grow- 
iug to a magnitude which causes me uneasiness, should it be considered my duty to 
take steps toasuppress it. 

M\ views as to the situation are these : The county is not Indian country, therefore 
I am not called upon to carry out the provisions of the act of 1834. The collector's 
duty is indicated by his instructions and by the section 1950 of the Statutes; it is to 
prevent by all lawful means the importation of liquors, and to seize the California, 
and place her under bonds if necessary. He has no right to call upon the naval force 
to preform these duties, but if in so acting be meets with forcible opposition, it is my 
duty, upon being duly requested, to support him with force sufficient to enable him 
to do SO. 

In regard to his authority to act as internal -revenue collector and policeman, by 
seizing liquor in the possession of citizens on shore, and to call upon me to furnish force 
to subdue opposition I am not so clear as to his or my duty, and therefore most respect- 
fully request specific instructions from the department. 

In this connection it may be well to describe the condition of affairs past and pres- 
ent, and possibly the future. When in 1868 the country was considered as Indian 
country, there were but few whites, except the Eussian Creoles, be so counted, and 
they from habits and education were not such people as would be entitled to be con- 
sidered as ordinary United States citizens. 

At the date of the proclamation of General Grant it was wise and timely ; the In- 
dians had not then learned the secret of hoot-che-noo making, and thus its provisions 
eovered the case, and prevented them from getting liquor. Jnow the Indians do not 
want whisky; it is too high priced, and not strong enough; molasses, of which they 
can have all they want, they prefer. 

During the occupation of the post by the Army, the provisions of the statute were 
so far modified that authority was given to the Secretary of War to regulate the in- 
troduction of liquor here at Sitka, and he was authorized to delegate that authority 
to the officer commanding the post, the result of which was that the regulation of the 
matter was in the hands of said officer. I would respectfully suggest that if the de- 
partment could procure that the Secretary of War should delegate this authority to 
the naval officer commanding this station, the matter would be greatly simplified ; 
and should the department procure and entrust to me this authority, I could, with my 
knowledge of the character of the people here, and of the needs of the steadily in- 
creasing population of white United States citizens, so manage matters by selecting 
trustworthy persons, and calling upon them to pay a high license fee, that in a very 
short time nine-tenths of the present traffic in liquor could be stopped, and the re- 
mainder be caused to provide a revenue. 

Any course which a naval commander can adopt under the present complicated po- 
sition of affairs is as liable to be considered wrong as right. 

The arrival of this ship, and the influx of miners, prospectors, tradesmen, and men 
who prey on them, has increased many hundredfold the demand for liquor, and the 
collector is powerless to prevent the introduction. I have known of whiskv being 
brought in boxes of eggs, in passengers' valises, in casks nominally of beer," and in 
countless other forms. If I am to be left in charge here until a civil government is 
established, my prospects of continuing to maintain the good opinion of the depart- 
ment will be greatly increased if it will, as requested, obtain for me a little more legal 
power in this respect. 



Hon. R. W. Thompson, 

Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C. 

In a subsequent dispatch, dated April 10, I, having more maturely 
considered the subject, withdrew the foregoing request for additional 
authority, and requested that the collector of customs should receive the 
same instead of the naval commanding officer. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 21 

The following opinion of Attorney- General Devens was inclosed : 

Department of Justice, 

Washington, September 24, 1878. 

Sir: Your letter of the 20th instant informed me that, upon representation received 
by you from the collector of customs at Sitka, Alaska, it would appear to be for the 
interest of the white residents of the Territory and the- government to prohibit the in- 
troduction into that Territory of molasses, which is used for manufacturing distilled 
spirits for use among the natives, and inquires of me whether under section 15132 of 
the Revised Statutes, which authorizes the President, " whenever in his opinion the 
public interest may require, to prohibit the introduction of goods, or any particular 
article, into the country belonging to any Indian tribe," he will be justified in forbid- 
ding the introduction of molasses into said Territory. 

The Territory of Alaska was acquired by Congress by virtue of its treaty with Rus- 
sia of March 30, 1867, by which the inhabitants of that Territory were, with the ex- 
ception of the uncivilized native tribes, to be admitted to the enjoyment of all the 
rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens of the United States, and to be main- 
tained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion. 
The uncivilized tribes were to be subject to such laws and regulations as the United 
States might from time to time adopt in reference to them. 

An act was passed on July 27, 1868, to extend the laws of the United States relating 
to customs, commerce, and navigation over theHerritory ceded to the United States 
by Russia, to establish a collection district therein, and for other purposes. This law 
was amended on the 3d of March, 1873, by extending over this territory two sections 
of the act of June 30, 1834, which was an act to regulate trade and intercourse with 
the Indian tribes and to preserve peace on the frontiers. These two sections are the 
twentieth and twenty-first, one of which, not necessary to be fully stated, forbids 
selliug or disposing of any spirituous liquors, &c, to any Indian in the Indian country, 
and the other of which forbids any person within the limits of the Indian country from 
setting up or continuing any distillery for manufacturing ardeut spirits. 

Iu the opinion of my predecessor, Attorney-General Williams, of November 13, 1873, 
in answer to the inquiry whether the Territory of Alaska was embraced within the 
term "Indian country," he holds that as to these provisions Alaska is to be regarded 
as "Indian country"; but it will be observed that he limits his opinion to these two 
sections, and does not hold that, in the general use of the term, Alaska is to be regarded 
as "Indian country," and be subjected to all the laws which have been made in rela- 
tion to such country. The section 2132 of the Revised Statutes, by which the President 
is authorized to forbid the introduction of goods or any particular article into a country 
belonging to an Indian tribe, is part of the third section of the act of June 30, 1834. 
Its provisions therefore are not in terms extended over the Territory of Alaska. 

When two sections of the same statute are expressly made applicable to a certain 
people by extension, it must be inferred that there are no intentions on the part of 
Congress to extend more than those two sections. Alaska cannot be considered merely 
as an Indian country. It is inhabited, to a limited extent, by'white persons, whose rights, 
property, and religion, which were guaranteed by the treaty between the United States 
and Russia, should be protected by the United States, and the whole Territory cannot 
be subjected to the rules applied to Indian country, unless, at least, Congress shall ex- 
pressly render it subject to them. 

In direct answer to your inquiry, I therefore reply that, in the matter referred to, the 
Territory of Alaska cannot be considered as a country belonging to an Indian tribe, 
and that authority is not given to the President, by virtue of the section referred to, to 
prohibit the introduction of goods or of any particular article into the same when in 
his opinion the public interest seems to require that he should do so. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

CHAS. DEVENS, 

Attorney-General. 

Hon. John Sherman, 

Secretary of the Treasury. 

ORIGIN OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF SITKA. 

In yielding to the solicitations which called upon me to arbitrate in 
disputed points, I soon found that the interests and views of the white 
citizens were so varied, and frequently so conflicting, that the govern- 
ing duty would become more onerous than honorable, and I determined 
to make an effort to arouse the citizens of Sitka from their apathetic 



22 AFFAIRS IX ALASKA. 

state and to induce them to combine together and make such mutual 
concessions of individual rights as would inure to the public benefit. 

It was evidently necessary that the conflicting interests of the whites 
themselves should be harmonized before I would be able to make much 
headway, in my plans to carry into effect my instructions to " establish 
harmonious relations between the whites and Indians" upon such a basis 
that these relations would have a chance of becoming permanent. 

1 had hopes that if the citizens coul I be induced to form a compact 
among themselves to assist each other, and to refrain from the impor- 
tation of the ingredients of hoo-che-noo, and to delegate to certain of 
their number power to maintain order, we would have a republic on a 
small scale which would benefit everybody concerned. 

My efforts were, to a certain extent, successful, and in the following 
extracts from several of my dispatches the rise, career, and demise of 
this attempt is recorded. 

[Dispatch dated July 15, 1879.] 

On the 9th instant I called a meeting of the citizens, and, ably assisted by the deputy 
collector, Dr. Dulaney, and by Mr. John Brady, have, I hope, started a public opinion 
which will result in the formation of a local government, with police regulations suffi- 
cient to restrain disorder and regulate, if not check, the traffic in liquor. 

[Dispatch of August 12, 1879.] 

After a number of apparent failures, during which, however, public feeling was being 
aroused, I have at last succeeded in getting the people of Sitka to form a compact 
v/huh will insure some order and law. An election was held on Saturday, August 1, 
and the following officers elected, viz: Chief magistrate, M. D. Ball, collector; coun- 
cilmen, Rev. N. G. Metropolsky, priest; Patrick Corcoran, merchant; Thos. Haltern, 
merchant ; Thomas McCauley, salmon canner. 

The miners at Silver Bay, distant some 12 miles, refused, in an offensive letter (copy 
of which is inclosed), to co-operate. I am informed by the priest that the Russians 
whose names are signed were led to sign by representations on the part of Mr. Pilz, 
the superintendent, that the whole thing was a trick upon my part; that should a 
government be formed the Jamestown would leave at once. 

It is my conviction that Mr. Pilz did not himself believe this, but was actuated by 
other motives. 

I inclose a copy of the preamble drawn up by the collector. 

The code of laws which are to be adopted are simple, and will effect the purpose of 
enabling these people to preserve order among themselves, until such time as the gov- 
ernment will help them. 

The letter from the miners was as follows : 

To the Chairman and Members of the so-called Provisional Government of Sitka : 

We, the undersigned citizens of Silver Bay district, propose and intend to hold our- 
selves aloof from all intercourse with the so-called provisional government of Sitka. 
We deem it an unwise move, and we are all of the uuanimous opinion that xhe men 
of the Jamestown should preserve the peace. Should this government be estab- 
lished, we look to the early departure of the Jamestown, and then we will be in a 
far worse condition than ever before. 

Geo. E. Pilz. E. H. Murphy. 

Frank L. Burton. James Holyrood. 
*Johx Prior. F.Alisky. 

* Wm. Stewart. Peter Startzoff. 

* Walter Daily. Philip Kashexzroff. 

* A. Kashexzroff. Johx Gorman. 
N. Haley. Wm. Doxxelly. 

* T.S.Smith. John Lemax. 

And thirteen unreadable Russian names in the same handwriting. Names marked 
(*) in Burton's writing. 

This letter is introduced as evidence that, although the miuers. as 
a body, refused to recognize the authority of the provisional govern- 
ment or to join in any attempt for public welfare, vet that thev relied 
upon the Jamestown to take care of them. 



AFFArRS IN ALASKA. 23 

From the testimony of nearly all who signed this paper, I learned sub- 
sequently that the opposition was entirely due to Mr. Piiz having taken 
oftense at a supposed affront, in not having received an earlier notifica- 
tion than he did of tbe called meeting, the delay being through accident, 
and so explained to him at the meeting. As superintendent he caused 
men to sign who were in favor of the government. Mr. Pilz explained 
to me that fear of taxation influenced him. 

[Dispatch of September 6.1 

The government established is in successful operation. Its existence relieves me of 
a source of embarrassment; before its formation every citizen applied to me for any 
action he might think desirable; now ail applications are made through the chief 
magistrate, and we are thus enabled to do as much as possible to assist the civil authori- 
ties, instead of exercising arbitrary power. 

All offenses committed by Iudians outside of the white settlement I take charge of, 
and apply military government to them alone. 

[Dispatch of October 5.] 

[After having described the condition of affairs in connection with the Indians, I 
wrote:] While thus the Indian branch is under comparatively good government and 
discipline, the white settlement, of far inferior numbers, has presented a contrast. 

During the month it has been reported that one "discharged soldier," a druggist, 
who among his drugs keeps barrels of molasses, had shot at bis wife with a revolver; 
that another "discharged soldier," a -saloon keeper, had, at midnight, beaten shame- 
fully a woman who occupied temporarily the position of wife to him, and had turned 
her into the street ; that still another, a member of the council, had endangered life by 
reckless revolver-shooting at dogs on a neighbor's stoop; and many minor offenses. 

As theie was a civil government established to meet such emergencies, all of whieh 
were caused by drunkenness, I took no steps further than to send, in one case, a small 
guard <o stop the row. The "government" took no action in either, the sum of $6 
per month set aside for the purpose having been insufficient to provide police force of 
sufficient ability and courage. 

The attempt to form this local government was wise, but the method was not so ; the 
idea was good, but it was badly put into shape ; there was not a sufficient consulta- 
tion aud exchange of views, nor a thorough understanding of the relative value of in- 
terests involved. 

The miners, who now form a strong, and soon will the strongest, part of the commu- 
nity, refused to enter into the arrangement; they had reasons, which I then doubted, 
but now believe, to think that their interests would not be fairly represented. 

The refusal was couched in offensive words, and a quarrel sprung up in which, as is 
usual, there was wrong and right, upon both sides; under such circumstances, little 
could be expected of even a capable organization. Such an organization was not made. 
Some of the men who were elected as councilmen, carried into office an utter ignorance 
as to their duties, an utter indifference to the welfare of the community, and reputa- 
tions which did not command respect. 

Colonel Ball, the chief magistrate, has done his utmost to effect some good, but with 
the slight assistance given him by the " councilmen," and hampered by the require- 
ments of his position as collector, has been unable to accomplish anything of value. 

For example, the merchants entered into a compact not to order molasses by the 
September steamer. One of them, Sam Goldstein, a Jew, received by this steamer a 
large stock; the others, who had kept their compact, were naturally incensed at this 
breach of faith, and consequent "corner" in molasses, and called upon the "chief 
magistrate" to seize Goldstein's molasses. He detained it a day in the government 
warehouse, and called a meeting of the council; they failed to meet, and he, as was 
his duty as collector, delivered the lawfully imported stuff. 

The consequence is a general back down from the compact, and the October steamer 
will bring large quantities, and drunkenness and riot will rebegin. 

In dispatch of October I reported : 

The following document, posted on the door of the custom-house, signalizes the fall 
of the republic, whose rise and progress I have described : 

October 9, 1879. 
To the Residents of Sitka Mining District: 

The undersigned, elected under the provisional government of Sitka, have become 
convinced that their power to act efficiently is greatly impaired by the fact that a 



24 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

large and important element of the population was not represented in the formation 
of said government ; have decided to surrender their offices back to the people; and 
for the purpose of having them decide upon the action now to be taken, do invite a 
general meeting of all of the men in the district, to be held at the custom-house, on 
Sunday. October 12. • 

M. D. BALL. 

PAT. CORCORAN. 

T. McCAULEY. 

N. G. METROPOLSKY. 

P. HALTERN. 

This step restores the status to that which existed upon our arrival, with, however, 
a greatly modified public opi> ion. 

The collector now, in virtue of his office as such, represents the civil, and this ship 
the military, elements of the government. 

The cause which operated to extinguish this attempt at government 
was one which taxed it beyond its abilities, and in the end proved to be 
beyond the power of the entire governing power which could be applied 
to a serious case in Alaska, viz, the civil and military as above indi- 
cated, and in addition, that of tbe United States district court at Port- 
land, Oreg , to which it was referred. This was a case of shooting 
which, at the time, was presumed would be followed by the death of the 
shot man. This shooting occurred on the morning of October 9, the 
notice on the custom-house appearing later in the day, and being sup- 
plemented by a letter from the collector, as follows : 

Custom-House, 
Sitka, Alaska, October 9, 1679 — 11 a. m. 

Captaix : You have before this hour learned the fact that a miner was dangerously, 
probably fatally, shot in the city last night, the offending party having, as I under- 
stand, surrendered himself to you. 

The provisional government having failed in sustaining itself, audits officers having 
called a meeting to resign their trust, there is just at this time no form of civil au- 
thority here strictly empowered to take charge of the case, unless I assume it as col- 
lector. 

I, therefore, request that you, representing the other branch of the government, co- 
operate with me in the steps necessary to preserve the matter in proper form for justice 
to be administered, when we shall be instructed from Washington as to the manner 
in which it is to be accomplished. 

I have called a commission of three citizens to meet this afternoon at two o'clock, 
and take the wounded man's testimouy, and such other evidence as ma v be obtainable, 
and would be pleased if you would send a jury of your officers to assist them, and pro- 
duce the offender for identification. 

' M. D. BALL, Collector. 

To which I replied as follows : 

October 9. 1879. 
n S vf R o lu com P liance witn J 0111 " request of this date a board of officers, of width Lieut- 
I. M. Symonds is senior member, has been directed to co-operate with the iurv called 
together by yourself. ' 

The prisoner is, and will remain, under military control, and will be sent, suitablv 
guarded, to be identified by the wounded man. 

I must urge upon you the necessity of exerting your influence at once to allav the 
excitement among the miners, to such extent that no person or persons will make anv 
attempt at lawless proceedings. Such a course would deal Alaskan interests a severe 
blow; the contrary will inure to its benefit. 

L. A. BEARBSLEE. 

Commander, U. S. X. 

The following instructions were referred to Lieutenant Symonds : 

U. S. Ship Jamestown, 

Sitka, October 9, 1879. 
nWT^lI^WK^^ f^Ttf 1 f en i°/ member of aboard of officers, who, in com- 
bo, U Vt w?n e8t ° f Col f lectoi ; M - P- Ball, the only representative of civil air 
ttontj m Sitka, will co-operate with a jury of citizens called together bv Colonel 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 25 

Ball, in investigating the circumstances connected with the affray which last night 
took place between "two miners named (as reported) John Williams and Edward 
Roy. 

Passed Asst. Surg. N. M. Ferebee, and Master G. C. Hanus, U. S. N., will be asso- 
ciated with you in this duty. 

The investigation will take place as early as possible on account of the dangerous 
condition of one of the parties. 
Respectfully, 

L. A. BEARDSLEE, 
Commander, Commanding, 

The commission met at an appointed hour, and the man Williams, 
who had, immediately after the affray, run to our guard-house and sur- 
rendered himself to the sergeant in charge, and who, soon after, was 
brought on board of the ship as a prisoner, was sent ashore for identifi- 
cation by the wounded, and supposed to be dying, man Roy. 

Lieutenant Symonds, with a strong armed body of marines, was de- 
tailed to escort the prisoner through the streets of Sitka, with instruc- 
tions to proceed, if necessary, to any extreme in preventing the execu- 
tion of an expressed purpose, by numbers of the miners, to hang the 
supposed murderer. 

He was in no way interfered with in the performance of this duty, 
the niiners yielding readily to our authority. There can, however, be 
no doubt that the presence of the Jamestown prevented a resort to 
Lynch law, as the whole community was intensely excited. 

The commission appointed to investigate this case, found as follows: 

The undersigned, a mixed commission of officers of the United States ship James- 
town and citizens of Sitka, convened by order of Commander L. A. Beardslee, and re- 
quest of M. D. Ball, to inquire into the circumstances of the shooting of Edwin Roy 
on the night of October 8, 1879, having taken all of the evidence available in the case, 
do certify, that from the same we are of the opiniou that John Williams should be 
held to await the issue of the wounds of said Roy, and for trial for the said shooting, 
subject to such orders as may be received from the authorities at Washington. 

F. M. SYMONDS, Lieutenant, U. S. N. 

N. M. FEREBEE, Passed Assistant Surgeon, U. S. N. 

G. C. HANUS. Master, U. S. N. 
M. P. BERRY. 

G. E. PILZ. 
JOHN G. BRADY. 

This finding, &c, was transmitted to me by the collector, accompanied 
by the following letter: 

Custom-House, 
Sitka, October 9, 1879 — 5 p. m. 
Captain: As notified by you in your letter of this date, the board of officers ap- 
pointed to co-operate with one of the citizens in investigating the caseof the shooting 
of Edwin R. Roy, reported and entered upon the examination which is just closed. 

I inclose you herewith a copy of their finding, also of the deposition of Roy taken by 
me, aud in full consciousness of his situation and under oath; also copy of other evi- 
dence. 
I shall report the case to my department also. 

I gather from your letter that you will keep charge of the prisoner until the result 
of the wounds of Roy is known, and instructions received from Washington. I hope 
such is your intention. 

M. D. BALL, 

Collector. 

The inclosed deposition, which was the only evidence taken under 
oath by the commission, was as follows: 

Deposition of Edward Robert Roy. 

My name is Edward Robert Roy ; was born in Manchester, England ; am thirty- 
seven years old; married ; my wife resides in Newry, Ireland. 
Scotty and I were at Mooney's saloon singing and enjoying ourselves last night. My 



g(j AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

Bong wm well liked, but Scotty'a disapproved, so he commenced calling me names, 

anch as '• sons of b s." Afterwards I went home, and to bed, and hail been there 

about three-quarters of an hour when he came to my cabin and demanded admittance 

oalling me " sons of b " again, .which I refused. 

He Mien kicked the door panel in, and I went to replace and secure it, and he jumped 
on me, and grab be I my throat and threw me down, and commenced emptying Ins 
revolver into my body.' I think he rired rive shots. 

(John Williams, or "Scotty," was here brought in, and fully identiaed 
by Roy as the man who shot him.) Boy continued: 

1 never carried a weapon in my life. Had a small pocket-knife in my pocket to cut 
tobacco with. Did not use it in the scuffle, or cut "Scotty P with it. 

The statement of the accused, John Williams, was not taken under 
oath, ami di tiered from that of Boy, in that he asserted that Boy began 
the tight by attacking him with a knife, and that after being cut he tired 
at Roy in self-defense. (There were several, not serious, cuts in various 
portions of his body.) 

The testimony of the two witnesses summoned by the commission had 
no bearing upon the actual light, and no oath was administered to either. 
And had such form been complied with, one of the two, viz, John Pla- 
toff, a creole member of the Greek Church, would not have considered 
it binding upon him unless administered by the Greek priest. 

Upon subsequent investigation I found reason to believe that the 
commission had not examined into the case very thoroughly, and that 
the cabin where the affray took place was equally the home of Boy and 
Williams, and that the row probably started through the act of Boy in 
locking Williams out of his own quarters. There was nothing in the 
character of either of the men, who were "chums," to cause a doubt in 
my mind as to the true nature of the affair; it was simply a fight be- 
tween two drunken men, who when sober were friends: and in it both 
men got hurt. Had Boy's kuife gone in an inch deeper into Williams, 
or the bullets from Williams' revolver done less damage, the relative 
position of the parties would have been reversed, and Boy would have 
been tried for the assault on Williams ;. for, as far as can be judged by 
the evidence, the two men were equally to blame. 

The wounded man Boy was taken charge of by Dr. Frerrebee, of the 
Jamestown, who in course of time succeeded in restoring him to a sani- 
tary condition, which was hardly to have been hoped for in a man whose 
body had been made a receptacle for five bullets, caliber .34. 

The prisoner Williams was held as such on board of the Jamestown 
until November 10, when he was delivered to a deputy United States 
marshal, upon warrant of the United States marshal at Portland, 
Oreg. and carried by him to Portland for trial. 

By the steamer arriving at Sitka December 25, the collector received 
a subpoena which called him to Portland to give testimony in the case, 
in regard to which he had no knowledge beyond that obtained from 
taking the supposed-to-be-dying man's deposition, and hearsav. 

The man Williams was tried before the United States court of the 
district, and discharged by Justice Drady, who held that as the assault 
was made with a deadly weapon, there was no law by which it could be 
punished. This action of the court caused me embarrassment, as. with 
my slight knowledge of law, it seemed to conflict with previous actions 
by the same court in regard to Alaska affairs. The Indian murderer, 
Kot-ko-wot, was hung at Portland for a murder committed in Alaska, 
and Major Campbell, United States Army, when in command at Sitka, 
having, in pursuance of what he considered his duty, committed an act 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 27 

of punishment of & blackleg, which by the Oregon court was held to be 
illegal, was by it tried and sentenced to pay a heavy fine. 

Very uncertain as to my own position in case this court might differ 
with hie as to right, and as to my duty in the event of my being at any 
time subpcened to Portland, which would necessitate, if obeyed, several 
weeks of absence from my command, I requested from the department 
instructions as to my duty, under similar circumstances. 

The history of this case has been thus given in detail, not because it was 
in itself of much importance, but because it illustrates very completely 
the situation of affairs at Sitka, and the great necessity which exists 
that the community should receive some recognition from the law-making 
lowers. In reporting the case to the department, I commented thus : 

October 9. 
The whole lawful power of the United States Government, with full co-operation of all 
respectable citizens, has heen brought to bear upon a serious offense against public safety 
and human life (the wounded man will probably die), and the utmost we can do is to 
hold the offender a prisoner, to be tried by somebody at some indefinite time, and this 
only because I, having the power, am willing to assume the responsibility, believing 
that in so doing I am acting in the interests of right. 

The accused man probably committed a crime, and had the James- 
town not been present he would have been lynched. With the ship to 
furnish force, the man was saved from this fate to eventually escape 
from the clutches of the law. 

ENDING OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. 

On the 25th of October the meeting called by the officials of the late 
provisional government Avas held, and on the following day I received 
from the collector the following : 

Custom-House, 
Sitka, Alaska, October 'lb, 1879. 

Captalst: It becomes my duty to inform yon that at the meeting hekl this evening 
in the custom-house, called to consider the subject of the formation of some civil gov- 
ernment for this section, the only action taken was the appointment of a committee 
to prepare and forward a petition to Congress. 

The failure of the lately attempted "provisional government" to sustain itself was 
announced, and the meeting (which was very small) decided that it was unadvisable 
to repeat the experiment. 

I had, on the i5th of September last, presented my own resignation as chief magis- 
trate to the "council," having found the position incompatible with my official duties 
as collector. 

I was induced to withhold it until the people had an opportunity to decide on some 
other arrangement to take the place of that they had unsuccessfully tried, by the as- 
surance that my resignation would be followed by that of all the other members. 

As I cannot, consistently with known and defined duties, continue the effort to dis- 
charge those which are both uncertain and uncongenial, I shall make no further at- 
tempt to assert any authority with which the late action of the people may be sup- 
posed to have clothed me. 

The people having had full opportunity to frame another organization, and having 
failed to do so, I must consider myself released from further action in behalf of the 
movement. 

In making this announcement, I will add my conviction thatoulyja condition of ex- 
treme personal danger from lawless whites or threatening Indians (either of which 
the presence of your ship prevents) can arouse the community to such action as 
would impart the necessary vitality to any form of government, self-organized, and 
lacking the authority of that organic law to which this people have long, rightfully 
but vainly, looked for some organization charged with the protection of their persons, 
aud the administration of their property. 

M. D. BALL, Collector. 

The foregoing letter was inclosed to the department with my dispatch 
dated November 19, and in regard to its contents, I wrote: 

In my last I reported the demise of the provisional government. I find that I was 
premature in so reporting. It was still in existence at that date (October 9), as I sub- 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

sequently learned by a letter from Colonel Ball, the chief magistrate. I may he par- 
doned for tuj error, inasmuch as the character of the government was not one the 
existence or non-existence of which would attract attention. At the meeting re- 
ferred to, the miners attende \ prepared to co-operate with the merchants, hut the 
latter having for various reasons (among which was the necessity of taxation, the 
possible interference with the traffic in molasses, of drunken or disorderly persons be- 
in-; arrested and confined, and probably some others best known to themselves), con- 
cluded that they did not wish any government, did not attend, so no new one was 
formed, and the experiment has proved a dead failure, principally for lack of suitable 
material. 

In addition to the reasons assigned by Colonel Ball as operating 
against the successful formation of any kind of a home government in 
either, 1 would give, as bearing upon it: 

First. A general impression that any effort made by themselves 
would, if successful, lessen their chances of recognition by the United 
States. 

Second. A general disinclination to take any steps which might in- 
volve an expenditure of any money, and consequent taxation. 

Third. A general timidity which caused most of the citizens to fear 
to come in contact with the disorderly portion of the community. 

Fourth. A general unwillingness among the shopkeepers to give up 
traffic in molasses. 

Fifth. A general condition of apathy and lethargy peculiar to Sitka, 
enlivened only by a selfishness which caused nearly every man's inter- 
ests to be in opposition to those of others. 

The letter from Collector Ball dated October 25, gave me reason, 
which was confirmed by subsequent conversation with him, to believe 
that, in considering that the provisional government had at last come 
to an end, he and I were in full accord. 

Heuceforth the governing of the people was left, as much as was 
practicable, in their own hands, arrangements being made between the 
collector and myself that he should notify me of the occurrence of any 
irregularities on shore which might make the intervention of the forces 
under my command desirable, I undertaking to respond to such notifi- 
cation by giving all aid required, reserving to myself, however, the final 
judgment in any case involving arrest, 'the necessity for which was not 
of immediate urgency, and the confinement in the guard-house, either 
for restraint or punishment. 

Early in December the collector notified me by letter that he had 
arrested a Eussian for stealing sashes from the hospital building, and 
requested that I should grant him — 

The privilege of the services of the guard in keeping him in duress for some time ; 
which authority I will assume under my present official and late provisional position. 

This action upon his part was considered by me as a wide and unjus- 
tifiable departure from the line of action we had agreed upon. The 
Russian arrested was a harmless, half-witted Creole man, whom extreme 
poverty had driven to the larceny. Many others, both Indians and 
Creoles, had been from time to time reported to me for similar offenses, 
and upon investigation I had found them to be objects more worthy of 
charity than punishment ; and, had I deemed it advisable, he could have 
been arrested at any time and no harm be done by the delay. And it 
was not in accordance with my ideas to recognize this assumption of 
authority through power derived from the late attempt at government 
which, during its existence, had proved a clog to the advancement of 
the interests of the people. 

I therefore so expressed myself by letter to the collector. But as he 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 29 

bad in this case requested one of the lieutenants of the Jamestown to 
give orders to the guard to imprison the man, I did not think it advisa- 
ble to undo what had been done, and gave orders for the retention of 
the prisoner. 

Correspondence upon this and subsequent events showed that I was 
mistaken in my idea that the collector agreed with me as to the status 
of the late government, and on December 19 he addressed to me an offi- 
cial letter, in which he presented an argument by which he maintained 
a claim to act as a provisional official, and to hold authority to prevent 
or puuish any offenses. This letter was signed, "M. D. Ball, Collector 
and C. J., Sitka Prov. Govt." 

Failing to be convinced by the argument s presented that the collector 
or any other person possessed a right to caii upon me as senior naval 
officer present, for any official action, through any title or office derived 
from the late provisional government, I so informed the collector; aud 
this failure upon my part to concur with his views in an official matter 
led to a breach in the plans of co-operation which we had established, 
which was however temporarily checked by the departure of the col- 
lector in the steamer leaving Sitka December 21. Which departure 
left the entire management of affairs, afloat and ashore, in my hands 
until May 15, 1880, when Collector Ball returned from Washington, he 
having previously returned from Portland by the steamer of 25th of 
January, and again left by the steamer of 27th January. During these 
four months 1 received however much valuable aid and counsel from the 
deputy collector, Dr. Dulaney. 

Before the departure of Collector Ball in December a question arose, 
in regard to which it was necessary that we should hold consultation, 
as to our respective duties. Our views differed, and the question was 
by me referred to the Navy Department for instructions, and I presume 
by the collector to his department also, I having informed him as to my 
proposed action. 

The question was as to the rights of United States citizens to attempt 
to obtain an ownership to any of the public land in Alaska, by pre- 
emption, and as to our relative duties in connection with such attempts. 

For a full understanding of the merits of this question, it will be 
necessary for me to relate the history of the same up to this date. 

HOMESTEAD AND PRE-EMPTION EIGHTS. 

One of the first services asked of me by the citizens of Sitka was that 
I should represent to the department the great necessity which existed 
of some method being provided by which settlers could acquire homes, 
and a legal title to them; and in August, 1879, I wrote as follows: 

I would request instructions in regard to a method by which homes can be procured 
here. There are a number of miners, mining engineers, and others who are desirous 
of settling in Sitka and bringing their families. If they could pre-empt land or pur- 
chase land or houses from the government, the place would take a step forward; this 
they cannot do. 

By the decision of Hon. O. H. Browning, Secretary of the Interior, dated October 26, 
1867, and directed to the Hon. Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State, "sueh claims and 
settlements are not only without the sanction of law, but are in direct violation of 
the provisions of the laws of Congress applicable to public domain secured to the 
United States by a treaty made with a foreign nation." 

The government owns within the precincts of this town 3,000 acres of land, which 
could be made valuable, and the island of Biorca would furnish grazing ground for 
500 cattle. A short distance to the northward are the Katliansky plains, where are 
about 250 acres of good grazing ground. 



30 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA, 

In dispatch dated October 11, 1879, I said: 

I number o( miners arrived by the steamer yesterday, men who had been at work 
at the Capiat- mines, am! most oi whom had been unsuccessful. 

These men find themselves npon arrival houseless. I have sanctioned their taking 
vo^ossion of. putting in order, and dwelling in the Army hospital building, which is 
commodious and empty. I think I can safely count upon their services should I need 
any extra foroe. 

In my dispatch dated January 22, 1880, I wrote, in connection with 
suggestions as to £overntnent necessary: 

The land here should be surveyed and existing titles perfected and protected, and 
it made possible to transfer real estate. The government owns much land and a num- 
ber of buildings (the latter going to ruin), which could be sold at good prices. . Dilapi- 
dated as thev are, ninny of the buildings are now rented by the collector, and they 
are eagerly sought. The development of Alaska would be greatly advanced if the 
publieiand could be thrown open to pre-emption, and section 4258 of the Eevised 
Statutes not be considered as bearing upon it. In such an event the rights of the na- 
tive Indians should be considered as are those referred to in section 2310. 

The circumstances which made it necessary for me to ask instructions 
from the department are detailed in the following dispatch, to which 
the notice referred to is appended : 

U. S. S. Jamestown, Third Rate. 

Off Sitka, December 19, 1879. 

Sir : I feel it my duty, acting as the senior representative of the government here, to 
call your attention to certain illegal acts which are being committed, but which do not 
property come within the province of naval forces to prevent, unless duly called upon 
by competent authority. In apparent ignorance of all laws upon the subject, as given 
in the Revised Statutes of the United States, sec. 2258, many parties here are going 
through a series of forms, by which they imagine that they obtain pre-emption rights 
over such plots of public land in this vicinity as they may fancy. The forms are sim- 
ple, the plots selected are staked, and in some cases fenced, notices are put up, and 
copies of said notices, together with a "claim," recorded by the collector in a blank- 
book kept for the purpose, and for recording mining claims. 

So lojig as these processes were confined to the wild land I could see no harm in 
it, and did not feel called upon to interfere; but lately two parties have, so far as 
these processes go, taken possession of part of the ground reserved by the government 
as a parade ground and for officers' quarters. 

In this emergency it seemed proper that someone here representing the government 
should protest. Alter consultation with Colonel Ball, and receiving from him the as- 
surance that he did not consider it to be his duty so to act, I prepared a notice, copy 
of which is inclosed, and posted it on the door of the custom-house, and in person 
notified the two claimants of the illegality of their acts. Both yielded, aud expressed 
willingness to remove all obstructions. As I had no desire to commit the department 
to the assumption of a responsibility which does not probably belong to it, and which 
it might be unwilling to assume, I simply directed that no obstruction should he 
caused by fences, and that all "notices" of " claiming" should be removed, and that 
all building, &c, should be postponed until I should receive from the department 
instructions as to its views, which I now respectfully request. 

I make this report with reluctance, for my sympathies are with those who are thus 
trying to obtain homes in Sitka, and I feel that after doing what it has for Sitka, the 
department may be unwilling to take any step which may not be its duty, which 
would tend to retard the advancement of the place. 

I also regret being compelled to perform a duty the non-performance of which mav 
reflect upon the collector, for whom I, with every one else here, have the greatest 
esteem. By force of character he has acquired a leadership here, and has settled 
wiselv many embarrassing questions, and my duties have been made comparatively 
easy by his course. In justice to him I should say that he informs me that upon each 
occasion lie has informed claimants that his recording had no legal status, and simply 
amounted to a written history of the affair. And he had, previous to mv knowing of 
the last case of " pre-emption," himself posted a notice warning against "further 
encroachments." We differ only in that I think the first encroachment should be in- 
cluded in the warning. His notice was takeu down when mine was posted. 

I am very averse to using a particle of authority here which is unnecessary, or to 
entangling the forces under my command in any domestic complication : bur 'havim- 
been honored by the department with discretionary orders, I cannot see that I can 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 31 

Ho less than fully apprise it of the state of affairs, and ask for its instructions, so that 
I may make no mistake. 
Very respectfully, 

* * L. A. BEARDSLEE, 

Commander, U. S. N. 
Hon. R. W. Thompson, 

Secretary of the Navy. 

NOTICE. 

In pursuance with the duties with which I am intrusted hy the government, I would 
call the attention ^f the public to the following extract from the Revised Statutes of 
the United States, section 2258, page 417 : 

" The following classes of land, unless otherwise especially provided for hy law, shall 
not be subject to the rights of pre eruption : 

"First. Lands included in any reservation, hy any treaty, law, or proclamation of 
the President, for any purpose. 

"Second, Lands included within the limits of any incorporated town or city." 

And to the following extract from letter of Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of 
State, to General U. S. Grant, Acting Secretary of War: 

" Claims of pre-emption and settlement of tbe land districts of Alaska are in direct 
violation of laws applicable to the public domain, and military force may he used, 
if necessary, to remove intruders." 

All are therefore notified that the parade ground, and other pieces of land reserved 
hy the government, as per map in the custom-house, are, by the above-quoted sec- 
tions, exempt from pre-emption. 

L. A. BEARDSLEE, 
Commander, V. S. N,, Senior Government Officer Present. 

To this request for instructions the department answered as follows: 

Navy Department, 

Washington, January 17, 1880. 
Sir: Your letter of the 19th ultimo, in regard to the rights of pre-emption of public 
lands at Sitka, Alaska, has been received. 

Your course in reference to the pre-emption of lands or lots occupied by the public 
authorities is approved. 

You are not expected to resort to force in such cases as those referred to, but will, 
as you have done, notify settlers that such lauds are occupied exclusively for the use 
of the United States. 

As regards other lands, the department is of opinion that they cannot be embraced 
within the pre-emption laws of the United States ; but upon this subject you will leave 
the collector to act upon his own responsibility, as decisions in regurd to questions of 
this kind do not properly pertain to the jurisdiction of the commanding officer of the 
Jamestown. 

Whether parties whose claims are recorded by the collector get their titles hereafter 
must, depend upon what Congress may do in regard to this matter. 

R. W. THOMPSON, 
Secretary of the Navy. 

Upon receipt of the above letter, its contents were made known to 
the parties who had made the claims which were the origin of the ques- 
tion, and they at once complied with its requirements. And so far as 
the Navy Department had power the question was settled ; and to this 
day no man can obtain a legal right to any property, except mineral 
land, in Alaska. 

Although not in my power to assist any person in this connection, I 
was called upon often for such assistance. 

I will give one typical case, which will illustrate the needs of the peo- 
ple and the position I occupied in the matter. 

A druggist in the town (one of the number who signed the petition to 
the President in April, 1879) saw fit to begin the erection of a building 
across one of the streets of the town. The people who occupied prop- 
erty which would be injured by such a building very naturally objected 
to his carrying out his plans, but their objections were not heeded; sev- 
eral hard -up miners, who were known to be men who would right if nee- 



;V2 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

ir\ -. were employed to dig foundations, &0., and no one in Sitka had 
il'iiuht to stop' the building, or coinage enough to take any steps. 

[u this emergency a public meeting was called, at which the following 

letter was prepared and forwarded to rae: 

Sitka, Alaska, June 18, 1880. 

Sik: We, citizens and property-owners of Sitka, respectfully request you to prevent 
James Schmeig from erecting a building on the street in front of George Cozian's, as 
he is about to do. 

This Btreel lias been open for one hundred years, and has always been a street ot 
this town, and by patting up the building proposed the rights of many property- 
owners will be damaged. 
Respectfully, yours, 

George Kastromitenoff. N. A. Fuller. L. Petalin. 

A. J. Linden. D. Martin. N. Chichineff. 

Nat. Hilton. A.Cohen. P. Murphey. 

A. Gh Coman. H. E. Cutter. Pat Corcoran. 

s. Milletich. 
And others with unreadable signatures. 
Capt. L. A. Beardslee. 

reply. 

George Kastromitenoff and others : 

Gentlemen : In reply to your communication of yesterday, in which you, as citizens 
and property-owners of Sitka, request that I should prevent Mr. James .Schmeig from 
erecting a building upon a certain location designated, I would state that I cannot 
comply with your request. 

It is not the province of the United States Government, certainly not 'that of the 
naval branch of the same, to interfere with the private affairs of the citizens of Sitka: 
nor to undertake, without law to back it, the settlement of disputes which do not in- 
volve a disturbance of the public peace. 

The pre-emption or taking possession of any land whatever (except mineral) in 
Alaska, is an act which violates the laws of the United States. It is not for me to 
say that one man may and another may not violate this law. 

I have already referred the question involved to the Navy Department, and have 
received instructions that "decisions in regard to questions of this nature do not prop- 
erly pertain to the jurisdiction of the commanding officer of the Jamestown.'' 

The history of the foregoing case has been thus given in detail, not 
because of any inherent importance, but because it adds to the evi- 
dence heretofore given as to the helpless condition of the citizens of the 
United States who have sought Alaska for homes, and shows plainly 
the inefficiency of military or naval laws to furnish the required help. 

The only step that I could be justified in taking was to suppress riot; 
and in so doing I gave protection to a man engaged in violating the 
rights of the entire community. I fully sympathized with these people. 
Mr. Schmeig was attempting to commit an act which in any other civ- 
ilized place in the world could be prevented by lawful proceedings ; but 
there was not a power in Sitka to prevent him. 

Public feeling was much excited, and threats of forcible measures 
were made. The people were warned by me that in such an event, as a 
street tight would probably endanger the lives of persons not engaged, 
troops would be landed immediately upon the start of a riot, and all 
persons engaged in such riot arrested. 

That night the building, as far as it had progressed, was pulled down 
by "unknown parties," and Mr. Schmeig yielded to the advice given to 
him by the collector, myself, and others, and to his fear of consequences, 
and gave up the attempt. 

EXPEDITION FOR RELIEF OF MAIL STEAMER CALIFORNIA. 

The monthly mail steamer due at Sitka June 7, 1879. failing to arrive, 
and grave apprehensions being entertained that she had inetwith some 
accident in the inland waters— in which case, judging bv the fate of the 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 33 

passengers who were lost on the steamer George Wright a year before, 
those on board of the California would also be exposed to great perils — 
I resolved to take all steps in my power to give them assistance. 

A small steamer, the Rose, belonging to a merchant in Sitka, was 
chartered, outfitted, and armed with howitzer and Gatling gun, and 
under the command of Ensign N. R. Usher, who volunteered for the 
duty, dispatched to Wrangell on the 18th of June to search en route. 

The steamer was chartered because I had no confidence in the ability 
of either of our steam launches to perform with safety the journey of 
160 miles, until we should have been able to effect considerable altera- 
tions in both. 

The Rose was represented by every one as seaworthy and well adapted 
for the voyage. The trip should have been performed in a week or ten 
days, allowing ample time for the search of various places on the route, 
which Mr. Usher was directed to make. 

The mail steamer arrived on the 23d June, having been detained at 
Portland, She had met the Rose just outside of Wrangell Harbor on 
the 22d ; had made endeavor to tow her back to Sitka, but found that 
such effort would probably result in the swamping of the Rose, which, 
it was reported, would go into Wrangell for fuel, and start back imme- 
diately. She should have reached Sitka by the 26th or 27th. Failing 
to do so, anxiety in regard to her sprung up, which was increased by 
many tales, now brought forward for the first time, as to the unseaworthi- 
ness of the Rose. 

On the 2d of July I thought it advisable to make some effort to hunt 
her up, and, fitting out the largest steam launch, went myself in search, 
finding her at anchor, broken down, in a harbor in the eastern part of 
Revil Straits, on the evening of the 3d July j and after effecting repairs, 
both boats returned to Sitka on the 5th. 

From the report of Mr. Ushur, I became convinced that the condition 
of the boiler, <&c, of the Rose was such that I would not be justified in 
ever again using her for any purpose, she having narrowly escaped loss 
on this trip; and my own experience in our best launch showed me 
that I coulcl not depend upon these boats for any distant service. We 
were thus reduced to oars and sails as our only propelling power to reach 
any part of Alaska, beyond a few miles from Sitka Harbor, and under 
date of July 15 I reported : 

Our steam launches are good boat*, but with both of them we have had more or less 
trouble with the engine and boilers, and when we get them both into trustworthy con- 
dition they would still be unequal to the work of making surveys far from the ship. 
They cannot carry coal, water, provisions, arms, instruments, &c, sufficient to do the 
work. For winter work here a small steamer, such as those known as the " ninety- 
day gunboats," is required. She could run with ease to any point wjiere American 
interests were threatened ; while, should I hear of troubles at Wrangell, or the Stil- 
kiene River, the most probable places, I should be helpless; for, although I should 
wish to, I could not go to the rescue. Such a position would be a most painful one,, 
and I would earnestly request either that in the fall this ship may be relieved by a 
steamer, or, if it be considered necessary that she should stay here,, a suitable steamer 
may be sent to co-operate. I cannot again send the Rose; she is hopelessly used up 

During the uext summer, as will be described in due sequence, a few 
weeks, work in a small chartered steamer, the Favorite, resulted in the 
accomplishment of much valuable work. 

SCHOOLS. 

There were in Sitka about sixty or seventy children,, of wlaom the 
larger number were those of the Creoles, Many of them were bright 
and intelligent, but all were growing up in ignorance and vice. 

I felt that in carrying out my instructions, to. advance the interests 
S. Ex. 71 3 



9 | AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

of the United States in Alaska, the establishment of a school at which 
these children could be fitted to occupy their future position as United 
States citizens would be justified. By my request a gentleman well 
qualified for the duties, Mr. Alonzo E. Austin, of iNew York, then re- 
siding temporarily at Sitka, undertook the superintendence of a school, 
and by personal canvass a subscription of sufficient amount to recom- 
pense him was raised, and a room in the barracks building, which had 
already been partially fitted by agents of the Presbyterian Board of 
Some Missions, Mr. John G. Brady and Miss Kellogg, and in which a 
school had been kept for a short time by them two years before, was 
assigned again to the purpose; and during the remainder of my stay in 
Sitka, and until this date, this school has been in successful operation, 
supported partially by subscription and partially by your office, which 
allows to it the services of one of the interpreters who are necessarily 
employed by the commanding officer at Sitka. 

1 have, since beginning this report, received from Sitka the programme 
of an exhibition and examination of this school, and by it I see tha 
children who could not speak a word of English, or read and write in 
their own native Eussian, are now capable of doing all these things in 
good English, in which they recite and write compositions. 

The training these children received in the school exerted a strong 
influence over their parents and other adults, and thus it became a great 
help to me in preserving order in the town. 

The school was from time to time visited by arriving passengers, 
among whom were several capitalists from San Francisco, and clergy- 
men. All expressed approbation, and all promised assistance. Bishop 
Xestor, of the Greek Church, alone kept this promise. 

During the autumn and winter of 1879 the white population of Sitka 
was greatly increased, and, as many of the new arriyals were of a far 
higher class than the average of the residents at the date of our arrival, 
the tone of the community was greatly improved. Missionaries had been 
sent by the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, and their work soon 
began to be apparent upon the Indians. 

Business men, and miners who had been deterred from bringing their 
families to Sitka on account of the absence of all law, became satisfied 
that it was safe to send for them, and a church for whites, another for 
Indians, and Sunday-schools sprang into existence. 

In April, 1880, I caused 'a census to be taken, with the following re- 
sult, in which I have not thought necessary to include the names of the 
Creole population : 

Census of Sitka, Alaska Territory. 

[Taken April 25, 1880, by Commander L. A. Beardslee, U. S. X.] 

UNITED STATES CITIZENS BY BIRTH. 



Men. 


Women. 


1 




Name. 


Occupation. 






M.D.Bali 




4 






Deputy collector 


Miss M. Ball 






MissS. Ball* 




s 


W. D. Dnlaney 






1 


Edward Francis 






1 


A. E. Austin 




Mrs. Austin 

Miss 0. Austin f 


... 










Miss H. Austin " 




1 




Mrs.G. E. Pilz.. 


1 


* Postmaster, f Missionary. 


} Teacher. 





AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

Census of Sitka, Alaska Territory — Continue! . 



35 





Men. 


1 

p 

Children under 
15 years. 




Name. 


Oocupation. 


eg 

o 
H 


A. T. Whitford 


















.. do ... 




1 
} 


N. A. Fuller 


.. do ... 










Wm. H. Bennett 














H. Wildes 








Edward De Kroff 








Walter B. Styles 


do 








Clerk 








do 












I 


F.Wilson 






J. Riley 


Clerk 


1 






1 


R. H. Bishop 


Cook 




X. H. Hilton 







F, Staar 
















J.Allen 






1 






. ..do 






W. M. Stewart . . . 












do 










do 








R. Willoughby 


do 








M. P. Barry 






























J.Allard 
































do 








T. H. Bennett 


do 










do 










do 








P. Howe 


do 










do 








J. T. Smith 


do 








Ed. Bean 


do 








H.N. Steele 


do 




















do 








T.C.Doran 


do 










do 










do 










do 








J. D. Miller 


do 








M. A. Hays 


do 








T. Corwin 


do 








William Eeed 


do 










do 








F.Gideon 


do 










do 










do 








G. AY. Barnes 


do 










do 








C.H. Mitchell 


do 








D. Ackerman 


do 










do . 








W. Northrup 


do 








W. Hicks 


do 










.. do 










do 








J. Godholt 










Joseph Twan 










Thomas King 




















S. Matthews 


do 








B. Seacord 




















Total United States citizens 
by birth 




92 













36 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

XATl-KAUZED UNITED STATES CITIZENS AND OTHERS. 



Names. 



Nativity. 



A.Cohen Germany 

J.Cohen ....do ... 

T. tfooney Ireland .. 

W. rhompeon Scotland . 

A. Milletich Austria. . 



England 
Ireland . 



G eorge Berry . 

1'. T. Corcoran 



Thomas Haltern Germany . 

Samuel Goldstein do 

Patrick Corcoran Ireland . - - 

L. Cardan Turkey - - - 

H. Them ] Germany . 

A. Martin 

P. Krrassard France 

Joseph Haves ! Ireland . . . 

R. J. Duggau ...do 

W. Zable I Norway. . . 

Ed. Dovle ! Ireland ... 

1). A . Peterson Norway . . . 

Henry Bartle Germany . 

Cohauning Finland .. 

S. Wetherniier Germany . 

T. Mahoney Ireland... 

C. Wells do 

S. Milletich Austria . . . 

J.Smeig Germany 

George Cozian Austria . . . 

"William Richter j Germany 

A. Maris Austria... 

R. Waussen I Germany 

Fred. Kein | . . . do 

G. Heman do 

F. McGuire Ireland ... 

...do .... 

...do 

Finland.. 

Germany 

Ireland . . 

England . 

— do 

Ireland . . 

....do .... 

Scotland . 

Sweden . . 



Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 



Occupation. 



J. Hollywood 

Ed. Ryan 

John Hal stead 

George E. Pilz 

N.Haley 

J. Prior 

Ed. Prior 

R. Champion 

M. Cleander 

John McKenna.. . . 

A. Graber 

M. H. Gibbons Ireland 

M. Dunn do 

H. Campbell Newfoundland . 

R. Albertson England 

J.Tallon Irsland 

J. Jareau Canada 

L. Czarovitch Austria 

Fran k Berry ' do 

D. Kennedy Ireland 

P. McGlenchky do 



Yes 

Yes. 
Yes 

Yes 

Yes 
Yes 

Yes 
Yes 
Yes j 
Yes. 

Yes. 

Yes. 
Yes.! 
Yes. 
Yes . i 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes.j 
Yes. 
Yes- 
Yes. I 
Yes. 
Yes., 
YesJ 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes 
Yes. 
Yes 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 
} Yes. 
Yes. 



Brewer 

Saloon-keeper. 

...do 

...do 

Saloon-keeper 
billiards. 

...do 

...do 



Women. 



Mrs. Cohen' 



and 



Storekeeper 
do 



Mrs. Guestint .~- 

Mrs. Haltern 

Mrs Goldstein 2 

Mrs. Corcoran t I 1 

Mrs. Caplan 2 

Mrs. Thein 1 



...do 

...do 

...do 

do 

Butcher 

Shoemaker i 

Carpenter 

Boatman | ■ 

Gardener ■ 

Carpenter I Mrs. Peterson t 

do 

---do. — j 

Clerk ■ 

. do 

Blacksmith 

None 



do 

Scandinavia. 
Germany . . . 
Scotland 



John McKenna 

A. Nelson 

J. Leidig 

Robert Noods 

James Martin England 

Thomas Fielding do 

John Gorman do 

Thomas Mahoney Ireland . 

F. Alistry do ... 

Thomas Lyons England 

J. Lemon Ireland . 

G.M.Donnelly do ... 

Lattimer 

E. Q-regor Canada . 

Dennis Barrett Ireland . 

J. Rose wall England 

Robert McGraw ! Canada . 



Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 

Yes. 



Yes 

Yes. 

Yes. 

Yes. 

Yes 

Yes. 

Yes. 

Yes 

Yes. 

Yes. 



Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 



Druggist 

Pilot 

Baker 

Lumberman 

Laborer 

Cook 

Tinsmith 

Baker 

Mariner 

Blacksmith 

Engineer 

Mining engineer 

Miner 

....do 

None 

....do 

...do 

Miner 

... do 

....do 

....do 

....do 

....do 

....do 

....do 

....do 

... do 

....do 

....do 

....do 

....do 

....do 

....do 

....do 

...do 

....do 



Mrs. Smeigt 



Mrs. Richter t. 



Mrs. Hollywood t 



Mrs. Halstead 2 



Mrs.Haley 3 

Mrs. Prior 2 



Yes. 



.do 
.do 
do 
do 
.do 
.do 
.do 
do 
.do 
.do 



' Restaurant. 



t Members of Greek Church and natives of Sitka. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 
NATURALIZED UNITED STATES CITIZENS AND OTHERS-Continued. 



37 



Names. 


Nativity. 


S 
si 

1 
1 


Occupation. 


Women. 


Children under 
thirteen years. 

Total. 




do 


Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 

Yes. 
Yes 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 
Yes. 










James McC hesky 


Ireland 

England 


....do 








do .. 










... do 












....do 










do 


....do 










England 


....do 










... do 










....do 


....do 










...do .., 


....do 










Germany 

Scotch-Irish 


....do 










do 










Yes. 
Yes. 


....do 










do 












'alizati 




1?3 











Citizens by birth, men 74, 

Citizens by naturalization, men 85, 
Citizens by treaty, men 122, 

281, 



REC APITULATION. 

women 11. children 7 92 

women 14. children 24 123 

women and children 107 229 

women and children 163 444 



Of the above " citizens by treaty," 6 Creole women, married to natur- 
alized citizens, and their 11 children, have been enumerated as " natural- 
ized." Counting them as citizens by treaty, these will sum up 245. 

The following comparison with census taken in May, 1879, shows a 
gain of 119 persons : 

Comparison of census 1879 and 1880. 



1879. 1880. 

Citizeiis by birth 34, 92, 

Citizens by naturalization.. . 44, 123, 

Citizens by treaty 247, 229, 

325, 444, 



Gain 58 

Gain 79 

137 

Loss 18 

Gain of 119 



r 36 per cent. 



Citizens of Sitka, April, 1880, classified by occupations. 



Miners 82 

Saloon-keepers 16 

Traders 11 

Carpenters 7 

Clerks 6 

Government officials 3 

Blacksmiths 3 

Lumbermen 3 

Teachers 3 

Engineers 3 



Mariners 3 

Butchers 2 

Barbers 2 

Brewers 2 

Gardeners 2 

Laborers 2 

Baker 1 

Druggist 1 

Unemployed 45 



In the above classification, only those not Creoles are counted. Among 
them there were various trades represented, such as fishermen, fur- 
cleaners, tanners, tinsmiths, carpenters, tailors, mariners, and hoo-che- 
noo makers ; and there was also one Eussian, the priest. 



38 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

Shortly after the taking of the census, most of the miners left Sitka 
for the purpose of prospecting the country in various directions, but 
nearly all remained in Alaska. 

During the summer and fall of 1880, the population increased grad- 
ually, most of the persons arriving coming to stay. Among the arriv- 
als were the Rev. G. W. Lyon and wife; the former a missionary sent 
by the Presbyterian board of home missions. 

Upon the arrival of Mr. Lyon it was necessary to provide him with a 
home and a suitable room for a church and school; this was done by 
setting aside for his use rooms in government buddings, viz, the bar- 
racks and hospital. 

But for the assistance thus given by the government, the object of 
the mission board could not have been attained. 

Coincident with the increase of population business revived. Sev- 
eral new houses and places of business were erected, and a number of 
small vessels were constructed in an extemporized ship-yard, fronting 
the government parade ground. As this business tended to advance 
the interests of the country, I made no opposition to the use of the gov- 
ernment reserve, it being understood that such use was but temporary 
and subject to discontinuation if necessary. 

Some little commerce sprung up, and during the summer several ves- 
sels arrived with freight, principally lumber; for although the surround- 
ing country was rich in valuable timber, there was no mill by which it 
could be utilized. One belonging to a company in San Francisco being 
so dilapidated that it could not be used economically, and the company 
neglecting to operate it held it at so high a price that parties desiring 
to purchase and put it in running order were unable to do so. 

A small steamer, the Favorite, belonging to the Northwest Trading 
Company, began making monthly trips to various places in the Archi- 
pelago, where the company had established trading posts ; and Sitka 
having been selected as her port of departure, the family of Captain 
Tanderbilt, who commanded her, became residents, and were also fur- 
nished with quarters in government buildings, the collector having au- 
thority to rent such buildings, of which there are eight or ten of con- 
siderable value, besides others of comparatively little. The valuable 
ones are custom-house, barracks, castle, hospital, two warehouses, club- 
house, boat-house, and two dwellings, occupied by the collector and 
deputy collector. All of these buildings are becoming dilapidated ; 
they not being founded on stone, the foundation timbers have become 
very rotten, and the roofs have become water-soaked and leaky. 

A survey of these buildings, and an estimate as to the amount of re- 
pairs absolutely necessary to preserve them from destruction, was made 
during the summer of 1880 by officials of the Treasury Department, 
assisted by the carpenter of the Jamestown, Mr. Martin, which, I pre- 
sume, has been submitted to the Treasury Department. I was not fur- 
nished with a copy, 

WHARF. 

Among other property of the government was a large wharf, which 
had been built by the Army. Upon our arrival we found this wharf so 
nearly destroyed that it was determined to place it in order as far as 
practicable. 

A board of officers, of which Lieutenant-Commander Eockwell was 
senior member, was detailed to devise a plan for its restoration, which 
plan was approved by the collector and myself, and operations were at 
once begun by a working force from the Jamestown ; and at the expense 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 39 

of the Navy Department the wharf was put into comparatively good 
and safe condition. 

As a part of the plan it was arranged that a pile of stones should be 
so placed that they would give support to short preventer-piles, the 
bases of which should be above the water-mark, and thus safe from the 
action of teredos. This pile was to be placed at the expense of the 
town, or rather such persons as should use the wharf for landing freight, 
upon which wharfage should be charged. 

Collector Ball undertook this part of the work. 

Owing to reasons with which I was not made acquainted, the col- 
lector was not able to carry out his arrangement, and up to the date of 
my detachment, in September, 1880, the stone pile had not been built. 

The wharf stood the heavy gales of the winter of 1879-'80, but owing 
to a radical defect in its original construction, was considerably weak- 
ened by them. This defect was in the foundation, which consisted of 
crib work of timber filled with heavy stones, and built on a steep incline. 
The teredos honey-combed the woodwork, and the stones rolled down 
the hill. 

In the spring of 1880, it became evident that the wharf must be re- 
built, and I addressed to the collector the following letter : 

U. S. S. Jamestown, July 29, 1880. 

Sir : I would respectfully notify you that unless steps are soon taken tending to the 
preservation of the government wharf, the deterioration which is now taking place 
will have increased to such an extent as to render it impracticable to attempt to save 
it : and that in my judgment it will not stand through another winter. 

Whenever you will cause to be completed the portion of the work undertaken by 
you, viz, the construction of a stone pile, of dimensions sufficient to insure a firm 
foundation, I will carry out the arrangements made last year, and cause piles to be 
erected which will greatly increase the security of those already placed by my orders. 

M. D. Ball, Esq., Collector. 

To which letter the collector replied in a letter which contained, be- 
side personal matters not necessary to quote here, a history of the 
various effort which had been made by him for the preservation of the 
wharf, and a statement that lack of the necessary funds alone prevented 
him from completing the work. 

This work never was completed, and, as I had predicted, the wharf 
was utterly destroyed by a severe gale of wind last October. 

Up to this point this report has been confined to such subjects as 
served best to illustrate the position and condition of the citizens of 
the United States dwelling at Sitka, the relationship existing between 
them and the Indian natives, and the position assumed by the govern- 
ment through its representatives, Collector Ball and myself, in connec- 
tion with their affairs. 

The duties involved were irksome and uninteresting, and the respon- 
sibility great, inasmuch as it was frequently necessary, as has been 
shown, that acts should be performed by us which could not be justi- 
fied by any law except the natural law by which might becomes right. 

Our duties were rendered more complicated by uncertainty as to the 
jurisdiction of the United States district court of Oregon, and the strong- 
possibility that its views might differ so seriously from ours that we 
would become personally responsible to the law for the performance of 
what seemed plainly to be duty. , 

In regard to the frequent violation of the two sections of the act of 
July 27, 1868, as amended in March, 1873, it would seem that we were 
possessed of full power to lawfully secure the punishment of offenders, 
but there were practical obstacles not contemplated by the law. 



40 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

• 

A trial at Portland involved a great expense to the government, 
which there was no chance of reducing by the proceeds of the fines, as 
not one hoo -che-noo maker in Sitka was able to pay the tenth of the 
amount. 

Our relations with the Indian tribes were very interesting, and through 
the operations of the Jamestown, in connection with them, much im- 
provement has been made in their condition and in their relationship 
with the whites, These operations will be now described. 



JP^.RT II 



OPERATIONS OF THE JAMESTOWN IN CONNECTION WITH THE 
INDIAN TRIBES OF SOUTHEAST" ALASKA. 



41 



PART II 



THE INDIAN TRIBES OF ALASKA, AND THE OPERATIONS 
OF THE JAMESTOWN IN CONNECTION THEREWITH. 

It had been made my duty to restore harmonious relations between 
the whites and Indians of Southeast Alaska, and the steps taken to this 
end, in the preliminary effort to establish harmony among the whites 
themselves, have been detailed. 

My position in regard to the Indians would have been very compli- 
cated had I made effort to control them in accordance with the provisions 
of the Revised Statutes bearing upon Indian affairs, for nearly all of 
the sections presuppose a very different condition of affairs than pre- 
vailed in Alaska. 

The question whether the country was or was not Indian territory 
was an open one, on which learned authorities differed, and if it was so 
considered, I could not find authority for me to assume the functions 
which would have pertained to an Indian agent had there been one ; 
and there had never been made with these Indians any treaty, the ful- 
fillment of the provisions of which I could demand. 

As far as I could understand the situation, I was left untrammeled to 
devise such scheme as should prove best adapted to restore the harmo- 
nious relations on a permanent basis. 

The only sections of the Revised Statutes which were of service to 
me were section 2145 : 

Except as to crimes, the punishment of which is expressly provided for in this title , 
the general laws of the United States as to the punishment of crimes committed in 
any place within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, exceptingthe District 
of Columbia, shall extend to the Indian country. 

Also section 2146 : 

The preceding section shall not be considered to extend to (crimes committed by one 
Indian against the person or property of another Indian, nor to) any Indian commit- 
ting an offense in the Indian country who has been punished by the local law of the 
tribe, or to any case where, by« treaty stipulation, theex elusive jurisdiction over such 
offenses is or may be secured to the tribes respectively. 

From these I deduced — 

First. The United States had exclusive jurisdiction over Alaska. 

Second. As the senior government official present, it was my duty to 
maintain this jurisdiction. 

Third. There were no complications due to treaties. 

Fourth. The laws of the United States recognized the local laws of 
tribes as competent to inflict punishment. 

Fifth. That as such jurisdiction had been turned over to sundry tribes 
by treaty stipulations, I would be justified in making use of the prece- 
dent when such action should seem to me advisable. 

It was important that I should familiarize myself with their local laws, 
and while so engaged, I found that a study of their customs, character, 
and especially their superstitions, was equally necessary. 

43 



44 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

Before attempting any control over them, I had resolved upon two 
vital principles to be guided by: 

First. To, under every circumstance, treat the Indians with perfect 
justice, to the best of my judgment; and, second, to avoid, unless forced 
to act otherwise, all attempts to govern by force, and to substitute, as 
tar as possible, leading for driving. 

INDIANS AT SITKA AND VICINITY. 

Upon our arrival we found at the Sitka ranch about 150, mostly 
women, children, and old people; but within two to three days' canoe 
distance 300 or 400 more of the Sitka Indians were scattered, sea-otter 
hunting and fishing. 

These could very soon concentrate in Sitka, and passing by the vil- 
lages of other tribes with whom they were more or less connected, twice 
as many more could be collected, all provided with great canoes in 
which war parties of from 20 to 50 are carried. It was therefore neces- 
sary that we should acquire control of these tribes also. 

If by a mistake we won the ill-will of the Indians, it would have been 
impossible for me, with the force at my disposal, to prevent outrages or 
punish the perpetrators. 

The channels of the archipelago are marked by rapids and other 
dangers, which would effectually prevent a sailing ship from threading 
them ; and our steam launches were not as suitable for the work as we 
had expected to find them. The engines, boilers, fuel, and water oc- 
cupied so much space that there was not enough left to carry to any 
great distance, with provisions and outfit, an armed party of sufficient 
size to prove formidable upon arrival. 

The launches were not provided with condensers, therefore could not 
use salt water, and were compelled to stop every four hours or oftener 
to obtain water at creeks and waterfalls, and while thus engaged at the 
mouth of a creek issuing from a dense forest the working party would 
be exposed to attack from concealed enemies. 

Fully conscious that, should our course in handling them be such as to 
excite the opposition of the Indians, our physical force would not prove 
equal to the task of subduing them, it was deemed advisable that our 
efforts should be directed to obtain control of them with their good will 
and consent, instead of trying to do so against it, and to avoid taking 
any steps which would redound to the injury of the whites at Sitka if left 
again without protection, or which would tend to increase the dangers to 
such men as sought the interior on prospecting trips. 

Further, any bombardment of an Indian village, especially the one at 
Sitka, would inflict injury upon friends and foes alike, for in nearly every 
tribe there are some families who are friendly, and these are generally 
the most powerful, they having amassed riches through trade with the 
whites. 

I first sought for the causes which had produced the hostilitv between 
the whites and the Indians. I found a wide-spread fear of the Indians 
existing among the whites ; this fear, however, was not as great as it 
had been, for the whites had begun again to furnish to the Indians the 
materials for making rum, a traffic which they had suspended during 
the worst of their scare. 

Furnished with liquor, the Indians became dangerous, and everv 
night wild orgies occurred in the ranch, accompanied by fights in which 
knives were freely used. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 45 

INDIAN LAWS. 

According to Indian law the man who gets another drunk is respon- 
sible for the acts committed by him while in that state, and for his life 
if he dies or is killed. Thus at the very root of the difficulty I found 
the acts of bad white men. 

The Indians have a code of laws based upon their ideas of strict 
justice. If one Indian inflicts a blow or any other injury upon another 
the matter can be, and frequently is, adjusted at a consultation in which 
both families are represented either by the indicting of an equal injury 
or by the payment to the injured party of an equivalent. Even a life 
taken can be settled for in this way, payments being made, according 
to the amount assessed, in slaves, furs, or blankets. By the unwritten 
but thoroughly established provisions of this law a man who sells or 
gives to another liquor, from the effects of which death ensues, is re- 
sponsible for the death, and must pay the assessed value. If an Indian 
dies while in the house of another, or if killed in any way while in the 
employ of another, the house-owner or employer is responsible- The 
Indians seldom fail to yield to this, the very foundation of their laws, 
and a refusal to make equitable reparation is always a cause of war. 

ORIGIN OF TROUBLE WITH WHITES. 

They had this cause against the whites : Five of the Kaksatis had been 
drowned while serving on board the American schooner San Diego, 
which was lost in Bering Straits. 

Through their chief, Katlaan, they pressed the whites at Sitka for 
compensation for these men, at the rate of $200 each. After several 
conferences with the collector, who explained to them that by our laws 
this payment could not be made, the claim was reduced to one for the 
wages due the drowned men at the date of their death. I have been 
informed that these wages were collected at San Francisco, but swal- 
lowed up in fees and expenses. The Indians got nothing, and, natu- 
rally, could not comprehend the situation, and considered themselves as 
greatly wronged by the whites. 

As chief of the tribe, it was the duty of Katlaan to act for them in 
this matter, and he, being angered by what he and they considered in- 
justice, made threats against the whites "to get even." 

He left Sitka immediately after the affray in February, and, being 
absent, all responsibility for it was laid upon his shoulders, and his name 
became a terror to the whites, who anticipated all sorts of trouble 
" when Katlaan came back," and some of whom, probably the same 
parties in all cases, furnished to Captain A'Court, of the Osprey, to 
Captain Selden, of the revenue-cutter Wolcott, and to me, when I took 
charge, statements to the effect that Katlaan had led the attacking 
party, having originated the outbreak, and that he endeavored to in- 
duce the Indians to sack the town; that, failing in this, he had gone 
down the coast to incite the other tribes to attack Sitka. 

These statements were incorporated in their official reports. 

Statements made to me by other reliable parties led me to doubt the 
truth of all of these accusations, and, after careful investigation, I be- 
came convinced that the man was not guilty of a very large percentage 
of the offenses charged against him. 

I came to believe that on the night of the affray Katlaan was per- 
fectly sober, and used his utmost influence to assist Annahootz in quiet- 
ing the drunken Indians. Had he headed that party, every Kaksati in 



46 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

the ranch would have been in it; and instead of a broil between half a 
dozen drunken Kaksatis on one side and a large force of Kok-wa-tons 
on the other, there would have been a fight of considerable magnitude. 
I learned, too, from Creole families that Katlaan had that night sent to 
their protection trusty members of his family, and that he himself went 
to the house of a white friend to defend him and his family if molested 
by any drunken Indians. In short, I became convinced that he was 
not in' any way responsible for the affray, further than the effect which 
may have been produced by the threats made by him when angered by 
his* failure to obtain compensation for the lost members of his family. 

Annahootz testified to this effect, as did several of the leading Kok- 
wa ton Indians; and the deputy collector, Dr. Dnlaney, informed me 
that this chief offered his services in having the murderers hung at once 
in Sitka. 

All agreed that Katlaan was brave, powerful, and intelligent, and I 
considered that it was well worth while to turn such a man from an 
enemy into a friend. 

I have gone thus into detail in regard to this man because I believe 
that his influence was the power which restrained the disorderly men 
of his family on the night of the affray ; also, because my subsequent 
treatment of him, based upon this belief, has been made the subject of 
considerable adverse criticism. 

STEPS TAKEN TO PRESERVE ORDER. 

Soon after our arrival, it became necessary that steps should be taken 
to preserve order on shore. 

Wild orgies took place nightly at the ranch, accompanied frequently 
by fighting and stabbing, and in the white settlement certain dissolute 
and desperate characters endangered the lives of all citizens by their 
frequent drunken assaults, generally upon women and children. 

The Army guard-house, which was well fitted for our purpose, with 
cells, &c, was put in order, and a guard of trustworthy marines there 
stationed. 

It did not, however, seem to me good policy to employ the marines 
in arresting Indians. The least evil from such a course would have 
been the engendering of ill-feeling; and there was the risk that, in case 
of resistance by drunken Indians, the small arresting party might be 
overpowered, or forced to extreme measures in making arrests, the 
former of which would seriously injure their prestige, and the latter 
produce a blood feud that some time or other would be settled. A cor- 
poral with a couple of men would be in bad company if a dozen or more 
crazy Indians attacked them, in their own ranch. 

I determined to teach the Indians to control themselves, and to obey 
primarily their own laws, and to this end appointed as policemen five 
of the most trustworthy and influential, to whom the duties of preserv- 
ing order in the ranch and of arresting all disorderly or drunken Indians 
who came into the white settlement, were assigned. They were in- 
structed to in no emergency attempt to arrest or molest any white man, 
and they were particularly cautioned that rewards offered for the appre- 
hension of deserters were not to be earned by them ; for such action 
upon their part would have drawn upon them' the hatred of the crew, 
and drunken liberty men would have instigated troubles. 

Annahootz was appointed chief, with four assistants, all of whom had 
helped subdue the riot in February. 

These appointments were made at a meeting of the leading Indians, 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 47 

Tvliich I had called, to whom I explained my intentions and desire that 
they should learn to govern themselves. They all expressed approba- 
tion of the plan ; but the leaders of the Kaksatis were not satisfied that 
all of the appointments should be given to Kak-wa-tous, and asked one 
for their family ; this I declined to give, telling them that they had, by 
their conduct, forfeited any claims to such consideration, but that, if 
after six months' probation the conduct of the family had been such as 
to merit it, an appointment would be made from it. This satisfied them, 
and they promised to try to earn it. 

During our stay at Sitka these policemen did all duties required of 
them, and it was never necessary for us to use our own men in arresting 
Indians or preserving order among them. Although we several times 
have landed armed parties with orders to assist the Indian policemen, 
if requested to by them, in suppressing riots among the Indians, their 
services were never required, the policemen receiving all needed aid 
from other sober Indians, among whom were notably those employed on 
board of the Jamestown as landsmen, and never failed to quiet disturb- 
ances. They were so successful in the sundry raids made by them upon 
the illicit distilleries, which sprung up like mushrooms at the least ex- 
pected times and most unsuspected places in and near Sitka, that I de- 
termined to give them a thorough trial a little farther from home. 

RAID UPON INDIAN RANCHES AT HUNTER'S BAY. 

In August, 1879, Mr. Hunter, superintendent of the salmon canning establishment 
at Old Sitka (now called Hunter's Bay), wrote to the collector requesting him as chief 
magistrate to call upon me to send a force to destroy the distilleries surrounding the 
cannery, which gave him great annoyance, and through the drunkenness produced 
interfered seriously with his business. 

Hunter's Bay is 6 miles from Sitka, and not visible from the town or harbor. In 
the neighborhood of the cannery there are three ranches, occupied by about 80 em- 
ploye's and their families, all Indians. I did not consider it wise or my duty to com- 
ply with his request. 

A raid upon the villages by our men would probably be resented by the Indians, who 
would have undoubtedly done injury to the property, after we should have finished 
and returned to Sitka. Besides, I considered that in thus surrounding himself with 
Indians Mr. Hunter took a business risk; his increased profits through the employ- 
ment of cheap labor should recompense him for some annoyances and drawbacks. 

No outrages were charged, and therefore I could not interfere and place myself in 
the position of keeping his servants orderly by force. But the occasion suggested to 
me that this would furnish me with a valuable test of the correctness of my views as 
to the best metnod of managing Indians; also, of the estimation in which the ship 
was held and how strong our influence was. 

Accompanied by Colonel Ball, whom I invited, three Indian policemen, and an in- 
terpreter, I went in one of the steam launches to the cannery. 

On our approach there was great excitement in the ranches, and we could plainly 
see many stills and kegs being transported to the woods in the rear. 

I assembled the Indians and addressed them, explaining my views as to hoo-che-noo, 
and warning them of the probable troubles which its use would entail upon them. I 
told them that I had come without soldiers, because I believed I could get them to do 
right when they understood it. 

Calling for volunteers to smash up all the distilleries, over twenty Indians stepped 
forward, and as they insisted upon my going to see for myself, I did so, and in a few 
minutes I found myself the director of an excited crowd, who with axes, clubs, halibut 
killers, and stones, smashed up about forty stills, and destroyed great quantities of 
mash and liquor. 

We went through all three of the ranches, our party rapidly increasing in force, 
every Indian whose still was discovered and destroyed becoming at once active in 
hunting up those of his neighbors. 

During the whole affair I was treated with great respect, and apparently ran no risk, 
except perhaps from some enraged squaws, from whose impending clutches "Little 
Jack" rescued me. 



48 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

After the raid a number of the Indians of the better sort thanked me for not bring- 
ing the soldiers, and begged me to stop the storekeepers from selling molasses. I found 
it 'very difficult to make them understand that, while the government condemned 
hoo-ehe-noo, it approved molasses. 

The foregoing description is quoted from my dispatch of September 6, 
1879. 

Daring this raid an influential Indian, who is also a great rascal, "Sitka 
Jack," was very prominent, following my remarks by a fiery address to 
the multitude, and leading the destroying party to his own house where, 
first of all, his own still was smashed under his supervision. 

By a note received from Mr. Hunter the next day, I learned that after 
our departure the Indians completed the work by destroying two other 
stills belonging to " Sitka Jack," which were located a short way off, and 
to save which valuable ones he had zealously sacrificed one of little 
value. 

FIRST PUNISHMENT ADMINISTERED. 

I did not think it advisable to begin a system of punishment of In- 
dians for offenses, until I had taken every available method to cause 
them to understand our views of right and wrong, and for a considera- 
ble time after arrival contented myself with giving advice and admoni- 
tion; but I found that an impression was growing up among the In- 
dians that we were afraid of them; they had never been subjected to a 
government not mixed with force, ana could not comprehend it. It 
became necessary to disabuse them of this erroneous impression, and a 
suitable opportunity presenting itself it was taken advantage of. 

An outrageous assault upon a woman was committed by "Big Char- 
lie,' 7 a very powerful, and, when drunk, dangerous Indian, who had, 
upon occasion of being punished by order of General Davis when in 
command, attempted to kill a sentry for revenge. All of the leadiug 
Indians were summoned by me to a council. "Charlie" was given a 
fair trial and opportunity to question witnesses and make a defense, 
found guilty, and punished severely. 

The story of this trial, I afterward learned, spread throughout the 
archipelago; the fairness of it and the justice of the sentence were ad- 
mitted by all; and the subsequent relieving the man from all disgrace 
on account of his punishment, by taking him upon our rolls and giving 
him employment, had a good effect. The man himself admitted that he 
deserved what he had received, promised to leave off hoo-che-noo, and 
for a year was one of the best behaved Indians in Sitka. I attribute 
this reformation, and the influence I gradually acquired over most of 
the tribes in the archipelago, to their appreciation of strict justice, 
upon which their own laws are based. 

At the end of six months Katlaan returned, and reported on board of 
the ship. He said that he had learned from his people that the man- 
of-war treated all with justice— that it was a friend and not an enemv. 
and that he had resolved to stay away in exile no longer, but to deliver 
himself to me that justice might be done. I was favorablv impressed 
with his manners, and after a short conversation, remembering mv 
promise to the Kaksatis, I offered to him the position of policeman. 
This display of confidence won him, and from that day until I left, he 
was the most faithful and reliable of all, and upon one occasion risked 
his life in disarming two Indians, crazy with hoo-che-noo, who rushed 
toward our armed party, which was standing ready to back the police- 
man if necessary. 

In appointing Katlaan, I not only did justice to a falsely accused man. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. . 49 

but secured the services and friendship of one of the most powerful and 
rising Indians in Alaska, whose power and influence it was decidedly 
worth while to secure to the whites, instead of leaving him in hostility. 
And this appointment relieved me from another trouble. The Kaksatis , 
while yielding to the authority of Annahootz and other Kok-wa-ton 
policemen, did so with reluctance, and there was arising a possibility 
of trouble between the two families. 

In dispatches dated January 20 and 22, 1880, 1 reported in regard to 
this appointment : 

The experiment of keeping the Indians under control through the aid of their leaders 
has proved a success, but not a perfect one ; they have done good service and I have 
never regretted the step, but there was a difficulty growing up which in time might 
prove of magnitude. In the original appointments (of policemen) I had been guided 
in selection by the records of the applicants, and not understanding the family ar- 
rangements and feelings, appointed Kok-wa-tons alone. The Kaksatis asked for one 
of the appointments, but were refused, with, however, the condition that if, for six 
months the conduct of the family was such as to merit it, I would select from it and 
appoint a man. 

The six months have passed; their conduct has been equally as good as that of the 
Kok-wa-tons; they have submitted to Annahootz. and some have assisted him; but 
there was a bitter feeling arising, and charges that Annahootz was not impartial 
(which I do not believe) were circulating. 

It was a bitter dose to a Kaksati to submit to arrest by a Kok-wa-ton. I found that 
to keep my promise, and to extinguish the spark, I needed a reliable and powerful 
Kaksati. Katlaan was beyond question the man, and he is now so serving, and has 
already proved very useful in bringing into the traces some young bucks who had re- 
sented Anuahootz's interference ; they won't dare to question an act of Katlaan, and he 
does just as I direct. 

I am fully satisfied that it is the best policy, looking to the future, to wiu him and 
his tribe to loyalty to the government and friendship to the whites. 

In this dispatch I reported also the results of a census of the Indians 
which I had procured on Christmas Day by the device of offering to dis- 
tribute on that day a ration of beef and bread to every Indian in Sitka, 
making this offer early enough to permit the gathering in of all who 
belonged to Sitka, and not early enough for it to spread to other tribes. 

By this census I found that, all told, there were not over five hundred 
Indians living at Sitka or in immediate vicinity, who were divided thus : 
Kok-wa-tons, 40 families, 80 men, 120 women and children, total, 200; 
Kaksatis, 30 families, 40 men, 85 women and children, total, 125 ; and 
about 175 more, belonging to several minor families. 

Of this total of 500 people not over 200 were men and grown boys ; 
but to this effective force in case of trouble may be added a large pro- 
portion of the women, who are more disorderly and dangerous than the 
men, and are experts in the use of stabbing-knives. 

The term " family" has been used several times in this report. It may 
be advisable to explain clearly its meaning. Nearly all of the tribes 
who dwell among the islands of the Alexander Archipelago are appar- 
ently of a common origin, having the same language, superstitions, and 
customs. 

Each tribe is independent of all of the others, but connected with most 
of the others by intermarriage, a relationship through the mothers being 
considered more intimate than through fathers. 

These tribes have no chief who has authority over all of its members, 
but they are subdivided into families, each consisting of all persons 
related, of whom as many as possible occupy the same house. In each 
of these families some man with superior brains, force, or wealth, and 
frequently from combination of all, becomes its leader. Singular as it 
may seem, "blood" goes a long way in the establishment of this posi- 
tion, from which an Indian having any trace of slave blood in his veins, 
no matter how slight, is vigorously tabooed. 
S. Ex. 71 4 



BO AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

Those leaders are looked up to, and their advice generally accepted 
and their orders obeyed, but not always, for domestic revolts by aspir- 
ing young books are not uncommon. Generally these leaders own sev- 
eral' slaves, who add to their dignity and importance. These slaves, of 
whom there are quite a number at Sitka, are either persons who, when 
children, have been paid by one tribe to another in settling a war, or by 
one family to another in payment of some claim. 

Every person in every family is bound to assist any member of it who 
has received injury from any member of another family in obtaining com- 
pensation from the injurer, or, failing in that, from his family. 

[Extract from dispatch of January 22, 1880.J 

The most sacred duty is retaliation; the word in their language which expresses it 
is " to get even." Their code would necessarily involve them iu endless feuds, were it 
not that all injuries have their prices, and can bo paid for. 

After due consultation at a,pow-tvow between the leaders of the two families, a cer- 
tain price is fixed, which is paid either in slaves, furs, or blankets, according to its 
amount. I have been called upon several times to investigate and act as arbiter, and 
have permitted this atonement, which satisfied all parties, in preference to inflicting 
punishments, which would make all parties dissatisfied. 

The difficulties between the Indians and whites are greatly due to 
this custom, and I became fully satisfied very soon after my arrival at 
Sitka that the two principal causes of difficulty between the whites 
and the Indians originate with the former. 

The whites turn peaceable Indians into crazy devils by furnishing 
ram to them, and friendly Indians into enemies by assaults upon them, 
for which the Indians cannot obtain redress. 

Thus, even from the Indian stand-point, the one thing necessary to 
preserve peace in Southeastern Alaska is a government with strength 
enough to restrain and fully punish disorderly persons, either white or 
red, and thus furnish to each an equally needed protection. 

TROUBLES AT WRANGEL. 

The mail steamer arriving at Sitka January 25, 1880, brought news 
that a war was in progress at Wrangel between the Stahkine and Kootz- 
noo Indians. The former are natives of the town, and number about 
120; the latter live on Admiralty Island, and are a much more powerful 
tribe. 

Just to the westward of the white settlement at Wrangel are a num- 
ber of houses which are appropriated to the use of visiting tribes who 
come to Wrangel to trade with the whites there located. 

The village of the Stahkines is to the eastward of the white settlement, 
which is thus exposed to danger by being between the contestants. 

I received a letter from a Mr. Woodcock, the chairman of a committee 
of safety— the resident males having formed themselves into such an 
organization. 

Collector Ball returned to Sitka by the steamer, and in auswer to my 
request, he gave me a written statement as to condition of affairs at 
Wrangel. I received also a letter from the pilot of the steamer. 

These letters are as follows : 

[Letter from Mr. Woodcock. 1 

Fort Wraxgel. 
January 24. 1890. 

f-SLi A , 8 r ? ia + irma " °f the committee appointed by the residents of Wrangel. I have 
furnished Captain Ball with a statement of the situation of affairs here in pencil, and 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 51 

would have communicated with you in person if I had time. The committee respect- 
fully ask for their protection, that we sbonld have 25 o. 30 soldiers sent here; and 

their services would not be required any longer than the next trip of the California. 

As we are very short of arms, I respectfully request that 75 stand of arms, with 
ammunition, and a gatling-gun be forwarded by the California. 

W. H. WOODCOCK. 
Capt. L. A. Beardslee, 

Commanding United States Steamer Jamestown. 

[Letter from Collector Ball.] 

Custom-House, Collector's Office, 

Sitka, Alaska, January 26, 1880. 

Captain : On my way back to Sitka, I have met, at Wrangel, a committee of safety, 
formed of the citizens there, whose chairman has addressed you a letter on the subject 
of the Indian trouble now existing there. There was no time during the short stay 
of the steamer there, for them to wr ; te you a full account, which I was requested to 
give, but must make it more brief than they desired. 

The trouble arose from a personal difficulty between an Indian of the Stickeen tribe, 
with some of the Hoo-che-noo tribe, which occupy respectively the shores east and 
west of the white settlement there. The Stickeen being beaten by some of the Hoo- 
che-noos, went with a party of his friends to their ranch and took retaliation in kind 
on the Hoo-che-noos, with interest. 

T i ere upon a party of Hoo-che-noos attached the Stickeens family, which made the 
assault on them in regular armed fashion, and a fight occurred, resulting in the death 
of two Hoo-che-noos and three Stickeens, and the wounding of a number, some mor- 
tally. 

After the fight the parties kept up a skirmish for several days, which, from the 
shape of the town, &c, was a very dangerous thing for the citizens, many houses beiug 
struck, and some persons narrowly missed by the bullets. They, at last, make threats 
to seize the powder in the stores. 

The trouble commenced on the 11th instant ; the fight occurred on the 14th, and on 
the 15th the citizens met and appointed a committee of safety, organized a guard, 
and have established military orders, forbidding the Indians to enter the town armed 
(they were running through wiih arms freely during the skirmishing), and keeping 
them out after ten entirely. 

The deputy collector at Wrangell concurs with the committee in the danger of the 
situation, and has been active in the organization of means of defense. 

I may add that the testimony of all the citizens there asserts the coolness and de- 
termination and good judgment of his course in dealing with the situation, to which 
is in my opinion to be attributed the comparative safety of the place now. 

While, as at present organized, the ^ hite population at Wrangell is perhaps secured 
from serious present trouble, yet I am confident they should be furnished, if possible, 
with better means of defense, and I hope you will respond to their request as far as in 
your power. 

M. D. BALL, Collector. 

[Letter from Captain George, coast pilot.] 

January 25, 1880. 

Sir : I beg to submit to you a general report of the state of affairs at Wrangell. 

On the arrival of the steamer California at Wrangell on the 24th instant, we found 
the whole population under arms to guard against encroachments of the Indians, who 
were at war. 

It appears from the reports that a number of Hoo-che noo Indians (about 50), vis- 
iting Wrangell on a trading expedition, had engaged in the manufacture of the liquor 
which bears their name. 

This traffic the Sticheen Indians tried to suppress by force, which finally resulted in 
a fight between them ; several were killed and wounded on both sides. The Hoo- 
che-noo Indians sent off a canoe to their village, 60 miLes distant, for re-enforcements, 
and further trouble was anticipated. The whites had stored their powder and ammu- 
nition in a storehouse, and established a system of guards for the town. 

So the matter rests since the steamer left, but it shows the necessity of some gov- 
ernment authority to take precedence. 

W. E. GEORGE. 

The foregoing letters were inclosed to the department with my 
monthly dispatch, dated January 25, 1880, in which I wrote in the con-, 
nection : 

I find that the outside number of Stahkines is 120, of the Kootznoos not over 50, but 
it is supposed that the latter have sent up the straits to their village (on Admiralty 



52 AFFAIRS IN AZASKA. 

Island) for re-enforcements. Allowing such to be the case, and the forces made equal? 
ell-armed whites (the number enrolled for military service) ought to be able to 
take care of themselves, by maintaining an " armed neutrality," or by backing one 
Bide or the other, and thus making a thorough affair of it; they, however, lack arms, 
and 1 consider that I ought to furnish them. I shall therefore send them to-morrow a 
Gatling gun and 50 rifles, and shall send an officer and suitable gunner to take care of 

I shall instruct the officer to return by the next steamer, unless at that time the 
situation of affairs is such as to require his longer stay. 

Tins affair could be quickly settled if I had a steamer instead of this ship, which 
would lose herself before she"got half way there. 

And the gunner, Mr. Charles Stewart, was sent, with an assistant, 
taking- with him the arms indicated. 

Mr. Stewart returned by the steamer arriving March 26, the usual 
February trip of the steamer not having been made on account of her 
having struck on Columbia Eiver bar and being so injured that it was 
necessary lor her to go into dock at Victoria, where she arrived on her 
way north, after a voyage which had been a very perilous one. 

Mr. Stewart reported that shortly after his arrival at Wrangell he 
had a talk with the Kootznoo Indians, who soon returned to their vil- 
lage. From him and other reliable sources I learned for the first time 
the true history of the difficulty at Wrangell and its origin. 

The efforts of the missionaries at this place have been rewarded by 
considerable advancement of the Stahkiues Indians in civilization, and 
some are considered to have adopted Christianity. Among the reforms 
effected has been the lessening of the production of hoo-che-noo, and 
the missionaries had employed certain of the leading Indians as police- 
men, and these men have fulfilled, when required, the duty of break- 
ing up hoo-che-noo stills. 

A party of Kootznoo Indians had come to Wrangell on a trading- 
trip, and were occupying the guest houses, which are appropriated to 
such purposes. Not having been subjected to the influence of the mis- 
sionaries, which do not, under the present system, extend beyond the 
boundaries of Wrangell, these men set up a hoo-che-noo stiil in their 
camp, and some of them got drunk. 

Among the missionary force there is a Dr. Corlies, who, however, is 
not sent to Alaska by any organization, but has been led by zeal to 
undertake the duties of his own accord. 

Unfortunately, his zeal is not tempered with discretion and familiar- 
ity with Indian affairs, and he called upon one of the policemen of the 
mission to go and capture the still in the Kootznoo ranch. 

The policeman, who was a convert, tried to get clear of the task on 
account of its being Sunday— his real reason being, undoubtedly, that 
he was fully aware that a Stickiene (Stahkine) Indian, who should at- 
tempt to exercise authority over the Kootznoos would, beyoud doubt, 
get into trouble. Dr. Corlies, however, insisted upon the attempt 
being made. 

His demand was complied with, and the natural result followed ; and 
this imprudent act of this self-constituted missionary Avas the true cause 
of the trouble and the bloodshed. 

In support of this statement, I will quote from a letter written to the 
editor of the Alaska Appeal, and published in that paper February 15, 
the writer being Dr. Corlies himself. 

Fort Wrangell. Alaska. 

January 27. 186 

Hoo-che-noo, the hane of Alaska Indians, has again heen the cause of the sheddino- 
or innocent blood. ° 

When* ill the United States government, with a strong hand put down this terrible 

rsCOUI'^c i 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 53 

The missionaries at Fort Wrangell have used every means in their power to free the 
Indians from this their worst enemy. 

* # # # # » • 

On January 11, I was informed that there was a still in full operation, and im- 
mediately dispatched the police to capture it, which they did successfully, hut a Stah- 
kiue who accompanied them lost his temper, and blows were exchanged to the dam- 
age of said Stahkine's face and clothes. He thirsted for revenge, hut Mr. Young and 
myself positively forbade him to return with his friends. 

Two days later, without our knowledge, some thirty unarmed Stahkines went to the 
Kootznoo village, and demanded redress, which was given by a young man who came 
out and received a blow. 

All would now have ended happily had not some rash fellow struck him again, when 
immediately there was a general light, the Kootznoos bringing out their hatchets, &c, 
which were wrested from tlnir grasp and used against them, wounding seven per- 
sons badly. 

After this the Kootznoos threatened the lives of the Stahkines. 

I went to both parties, dressed their wounds, and succeeded in obtaining their 
promises to meet in council at, Mr. Young's house the next morning. 

Alas for promises! Early the next day the Kootznoos rushed well armed to the 
Stahkine village ; Mr. Youug made heroic efforts to prevent bloodshed, and would 
have succeeded if the Kootznoo's had not broken into one of the houses, which so en- 
raged the Stahkines that they rushed out; the Kootznoos fired, killing Toyatt, a chief, 
and two others. The Stahkines returned the fire, killing two men. The Kootznoos 
then retreated, and the day was spent in skirmishing. The Stahkines demand the 
death of a chief for Toyatt, which the Kootznoos refuse ; so the matter stands at this 
writing. 

W. H. R. CORLIES, 
Missionary to the Indians of Alaska. 

It is very evident to any reader of the foregoing letter, without bias 
for or against either of the two tribes, that throughout this difficulty 
the Kootznoos were not to blame. 

The Stahkines violated Indian law at the outset, and subsequently 
by one of their party striking a second blow after the affair had been 
" made even" by the first. And the ignorance of Indian laws and 
customs, or disregard for them, exhibited by Dr. Corlies, makes it very 
evident that in the attempt to help Alaska the mission board should 
intrust their affairs to a man who, with zealous Christianity, combines 
common sense, courage, and thorough knowledge of the character, cus- 
toms, laws, and needs of the Indians. Such a combination, I feel safe 
in saying, would be found in the Rev. S. Hall Young, to whose good 
conduct that day, both as a man and missionary, the people of Wrangell 
owe as much as to the deputy collector, whose conduct also was good. 

This difficulty at Wrangell came to the surface ou several occasions, 
which will be described. Omitting them for the moment, I will say that 
upon my arrival at Wrangell in September, 1880, on my way east, some 
new facts in the connection came to me for the first time, which are as 
follows : 

After the Kootznoos leffc Wrangell in January, the Stahkines destroyed 
all of the guest houses, and at the time of my visit the ground which 
they had occupied was in use as a garden bj x the deputy collector, 
Colonel Crittenden, he having fenced.it. in for that purpose. 

This action had become known by all of the Indians throughout the 
inland waters, aud was resented by them to such extent that they re- 
fused to visit Wrangell for trading purposes, which refusal had inflicted 
a severe blow to the welfare of the place. Had this fact been communi- 
cated to me during the time I was in command, I should, in connection 
Avith interviews with the Kootznoo Indians, have taken all means in my 
power to have the houses restored. 

It is very poor policy to quarrel with or tantalize Indians. They 



54 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

should either be well whipped, or treated with perfect friendship, ac- 
cording to circumstances. 

During the winter there existed grave apprehension upon the minds 
o\' the missionaries that the Kootzuoos who had left home would return, 
as t hey threatened, with a large force; but up to the date of this present 
writing no such event has occurred. 

1 think that I may fairly claim that the suspension of this war was 
due to the influence of the Jamestown. 

On the 3d of March, 1880, three large canoe loads of Kootznoo In- 
dians (about 40) arrived at Sitka, their object being to demand of Kat- 
laan compensation for the death of a Kootznoo woman, to whom he had 
sold or given hoo-che-noo some five months before. As Katlaan had 
been greatly blamed for the part he had taken in insisting upon com- 
pensation from the whites for the loss of the members of his family who 
were on the San Diego, I watched with interest his conduct in this mat- 
ter. He knew very well that no lighting would be permitted in the 
ranch, and his family was stronger than the visiting party; therefore, if 
he did not choose to comply with the demand he could refuse with im- 
punity. This, however, he did not do, but paid at once the value of the 
woman as assessed at a poiv-wow of the two families, viz, twenty blan- 
kets. This action convinced me that I was not mistaken in judging his 
previous acts, as claimant, to have been perfectly justifiable from the 
Indian point of view. 

I took advantage of the presence of these people, and of the good feel- 
ing which existed, to interview them in regard to the troubles at Wran- 
gell. They denied a report which had been brought to me a few days 
before, by a Stahkine chief, that they intended to go from Sitka to 
Wrangell to renew the war; and this Stahkine being still in town. I 
caused him and the leaders of the Kootzuoos to meet with me, and ob- 
tained from both parties promises to keep the peace. The Kootzuoos 
kept the promise to this extent, that they did not go to Wrangell, but 
staid a week in Sitka and returned home. 

VISIT OF THE KAKE INDIANS. 

During the same month (March) a large delegation of Kake Indians, 
from Kou Island, came to Sitka in four large war canoes, entering the 
harbor in line abreast, with flags flying and all singing a war song. 
These were caused to remain in their boats until they gave satisfactorv 
assurances of good conduct. This tribe has for many vears been justl'v 
considered troublesome and dangerous. 

In January, 1809, they murdered without provocation two white men 
named Ludwig Madger and William Walker, who were encamped for 
the night at a small cove near Fort Gardner, the southwest point of 
Admiralty Island, and, after murdering these men, mutilated the re- 
mains. For this offense they received prompt punishment, for on the 
l? th a ™ 15th of January, Lieutenant-Commander Meade, commanding 
Inited States steamer Saginaw, burned and destroyed one town and 
three villages (thirty-five homes in all), and a number of their canoes, 
at Saginaw ami Security Bays, Kou Island; also, two stockade forts 
which were "about 100 feet square and from 15 to 17 feet feet high, and 

24 1869 )° g8 9 t0 15 inCheS tMck '" ( Meade ' s re l )ort of February 

They have not rebuilt these villages, but have since led wandering 
lives forcing themselves upon the hospitality of other tribes, who both 
dislike and fear them. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 55 

Their object in the present visit was to settle a dispute between their 
tribe and that of Sitka Jack. 

At the potv-wow and ensuing dance, I took care to station the whole 
force of Indian policemen and assistants. 

The dispute was settled without disorder, and they begged permis- 
sion to remain a few days, giving strong promises at an interview I had 
with them. 

In spite of these pledges they soon required disciplining. 

A series of potalatches was begun in the Kaksati portion of the 
ranch, which became the source not only of annoyance to the families 
of whites in the vicinity, among whom was that of the collector, but of 
actual danger, inasmuch as, having no houses upon which reprisals 
might be made, the Kakes were liable, when drunk, to enter the white 
settlement and do mischief. The Indian policemen were called upon 
each night to suppress disorder, or, more properly, did so of their own 
accord; but the nuisance continued until it fiually culminated in a fight, 
in which considerable cutting and stabbing took place. At about 10 
o'clock at night of the third day of their visit, an armed party was sent 
ashore to support, if necessary, the Indian policemen, who, however, 
arrested the disorderly persons, with no further assistance than was 
furnished by the Indian boat's crew of the Jamestown. The offending 
Iudians were subjected to punishment of imprisonment on bread and 
water diet, and compelled to compensate all persons they had injured, 
and the Kake party directed to leave Sitka and not to return, permis- 
sion however being given to them to encamp at a short distance away, 
to await the release of their incarcerated comrades. 

REGULATION OF HOO-CHE-NOO. 

This event was followed by one of our periodical raids upon the illicit 
distilleries, by which much contraband property was captured and de- 
stroyed. At the date of the arrivals of the Kakes an experiment was 
in progress, the results of which were undoubtedly modified by their 
visit. 

This experiment was the regulation of the use of lioo-che-noo, which 
had been substituted for attempts to suppress the evil entirely, simply 
because experipnce had taught me that such efforts would result in 
failure, if made without the co-operation of the white traders, to the ex- 
tent of ceasing altogether from selling the ingredients of hoo-che-noo. 
Two powerful reasons prevented my receiving this assistance: the first 
was the temptation to increase their profits, the risk being eliminated 
by the presence of the Jamestown ; the second, a feeling of hostility to 
myself, which sprung up while I was at high-tide in leading them, 
through the publication in the Alaska Appeal of garbled extracts from 
one of my official reports, in which I described these men in terms 
which were true, but not flattering. This feeling was forcibly exempli- 
fied by a remark of Mr. Caplin, one of the leading "merchants," in 
whose store barrels of molasses were always on tap, u De captain may 
go to hell wid his tarn gov'ment ; I'll bay no daxes." 

This feeling of hostility, however, did not remain throughout my stay, 
but I feel assured that but for it hoo-che-noo and its attendant evils 
could have been eradicated. 

As I could not control the situation, I determined to accept and mod- 
ify it as far as possible by establishing restrictions. In so determining, 
I was influenced partially by the extreme cheapness of the ingredients 
and apparatus necessary, and by my knowledge of the love of the In- 



,56 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

(linns for the drink ; also by reasoning of some of the leading men among 
Thorn, who said to me : " Why do you permit the white men to sell liquor 
to each other, and to sell molasses to us, and then forbid us from using 
it in any way that we see fit? Why do you let them drink liquor and 
forbid us .' Your sailors get very drunk sometimes, why should not we ! 
They have plenty of food and clothes, and can pass their time in bad 
weather with books ; we are poor and have only our feasts to enjoy our- 
selves. When we have visitors we must treat them politely; if we do 
not give them anything to drink they will be offended, and they would 
be more offended if we did not drink with them." 

Some of these arguments were hard to controvert. I endeavored to 
explain to them that white men were permitted to sell knives and am- 
munition ; that there was not more harm in their selling molasses; but 
that while I would not take from them knives or ammunition they had 
purchased, if they did no harm with them, yet if they used them to hurt 
people I should. The same rule I concluded to make apply to molasses, 
and to take their hint about the conduct of white men and sailors, and 
so informed them that I would try the experiment of treating them all 
alike; that I would not prevent their obtaining molasses, of which they 
use considerable as food, but that any person who abused the privilege 
and got drunk and made trouble, which was the course adopted with 
the sailors, and I called upon them to bring to me all persons who of- 
fended. This plan for a time worked very well, but it gradually weak- 
ened, and the advent of the Kakes gave a finishing blow. I therefore 
substituted more stringent measures ; the policemen were directed to go 
through the ranch thoroughly and destroy every vestige of hoo-che-noo, 
&c.j and to, in future, prohibit the introduction into the ranch of more 
than one pint of molasses by any one person, and to cause such importer 
to obtain permission before bringing it ; and all lights were ordered out 
at 10 o'clock, after which no noise was permitted. 

I considered that these stringent measures would prove a good adjunct 
to the moral reforms which were being introduced by the missionaries, 
of whom two had been sent to Sitka to establish schools and church for 
the Indians. The influence brought to bear upon the Indians by them 
was of such great assistance to me, that I thought it but proper to ac- 
knowledge it, which I did in my dispatch of April 10, 1880, in these 
words : 

I have now some encouragement in making attempts to reform these people : previ- 
ous to this the only influence hrought to hear upon them was such as I could myself 
hring through force. Now my force is being well hacked by missionaries working un- 
der the auspices of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions of New York, who have 
sent out here as teacher Miss Linda Austin, a young lady who seems to be well adapted 
to her task. I have had fitted up for her a large room in the third story of the barracks 
building, where she has an Indian school at which there is an average'of eighty pupils. 
Mr. John P>rady, also, formerly a missionary, now a storekeeper, has resumed the work 
which he had nearly abandoned, and conducts an Indian church and Sundav-school 
in the same room, which are largely attended. 

There is every reason to believe that these Indians are verv anxious to become civil- 
ized, and that they are worth trying to save. But for liquor there would be no trouble 
with them, and that liquor they get from the whites as molasses. 

I arranged with a quite civilized Indian woman, who speaks English very well, and 
is a member of the Greek church, and married to an American named Holvrood, to 
assist Miss Austin m inaugurating the school. She agreed to come every afternoon, 
and I then offered to pay her for her services. Her reply was, " Captain, I do not wish 
pay. I shall be too glad to help civilize my poor people, and make them Christians.*' 
Several of the Indian men have voluntarily formed a Bible class, and come every even- 
ing to be taught to read, and make good progress. Our school for the Creole children 
and our Sunday school and church are doing finely. All are conducted by Mr. Alonzo 
Austin whose labors are recompensed by the very uncertain amount raised by volun- 
tary subscription. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 57 

The services of the interpreter furnished by your office are very valuable, and many 
of the children are Learning to speak, read, and write English. 

Our, institutions are strictly non-sectarian ; among the Sunday-school scholars are 
children whose parents are members of the Greek, Catholic, and Protestant churches, 
and the priest of the Greek church attends ours occasionally and assists in the school, 
towards the support of which the Greek Bishop, Nestor, pays a monthly subscription. 

VISITS OF INDIAN DELEGATIONS. 

In addition to the parties of Kootznoos and Kakes, whose visits have 
been referred to, there arrived at Sitka during the month of February, 
1880, several large delegations of other tribes, among which was one of 
Hoonah Indians from Cross Sound. 

The Hoonahs were on a trading voyage, and brought the skins of 
sea otters, hair seals, bears, and minks; also whale, and seal oil, the 
former of which is obtained from hump-backed whales which are very 
plentiful in this sound. The cows, generally accompanied by the bull, 
seeking the lagoons to give birth to calves, are there frequently caught 
by receding tide leaving a bar, and are shot by the Indians, who obtain 
for the rudely refined oil about twenty-five cents a gallon in trade at 
Sitka. They carry the oil in bladders of seals and walruses, the former 
holding one, the latter five gallons, and in oil-tight tubs which they 
carve out of solid blocks of wood. They brought also specimens of 
various ores, among which were those of silver, galena, copper, and iron. 
Some of these specimens were very rich in iron pyrites, which they judged 
to be pure gold, and valued so highly that I was unable to procure them 
at reasonable prices, which I was desirous of doing for the National 
Museum. I did procure some of the specimens, also stone tools, such as 
axes, leather dressers, tobacco grinders, &c, which were sent to the 
Museum. 

The Hoonahs were very orderly, and their presence in the ranch not 
objectionable. They proved to be very intelligent men and shrewd 
traders. They expressed a desire that white men should come to their 
country to teach their children and build them a saw-mill; both of which 
beuefits they assured me had been promised them by a teacher who had 
visited them, and whom I afterwards learned was Mr. Brady, whiten under 
the employment of the Board of Home Missions. 

The Hoonahs are skillful workers in wood, their houses being built of 
timbers which are from 10 to 15 inches square, and so smoothly dressed 
by axes that at a little distance they appear to be planed. They also 
understand making "shakes," and are the best canoe-makers on the 
coast ; and in their country there is plenty of excellent timber. 

They complained of inroads made by English Indians upon their sea- 
otter hunting grounds, and requested that we should prevent such in- 
roads in future, as they would lead to war. Not being able to see exactly 
how I could help them in this matter, not having any boat suitable to 
send an armed party so far, I could only promise to do what I could, and 
exacted from them a promise that they would avoid war with the English 
Indians, and report to me if they came again. 

CANOE EXPEDITION TO WRANGELL. 

On the 14th of March, the mail steamer California being then over- 
due forty -four days, it was considered likely that she might have met 
with some accident, and if such had occurred between Wrangell and 
Sitka her people might be in need of assistance, which we could give 
them ; and it was also possible that a renewal of the troubles between 



58 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

the Kootznoos and Stahkines at Wrangell might have detained her there. 
1 determined to send a search party. _,,,-, , fl ^ 

Baviue no boat suitable for the trip of two hundred miles, and the 
Rose being no longer available, I caused a large war canoe which we had 
hired for surveying purposes to be outfitted, and sent her with fourteen 
oi our sbipped Indians, to wboin instructions were given to make thor- 
ough search along the route, and inquiries of all Indians met; to report 
on arrival to the deputy collector, and if he needed their services, to 
assist him in every way. 

On the 25th of March the California arrived. She had met with an 
accident by striking on the Columbia Eiver bar, and was subsequently 
detained in Victoria for repairs. Her officers and passengers reported 
that our canoe arrived at Wrangell on the 21st, alter a very stormy voy- 
age, and that the conduct of her crew was excellent; that they had 
refrained ft om drunkenness, and that on landiug they had dressed in 
their sailor's uniforms, marched in a body to the collector's office, and 
reported as directed. Their conduct presents good evidence that these 
Indians can be improved by contact with civilization, and it made a good 
impression upon the Wrangell Indians, whom they entertained by ex- 
hibitions of small-arm and broadsword drill, substituting sticks for arms, 
they having become quite expert at these drills, through watching our 
sailors and marines. This, however, was not a desirable result, and was 
due to my having underestimated their intelligence, for they had never 
been permitted to join in the exercises on board or receive instructions 
in these points. 

The party returned to the ship on the 28th March; the canoe, which 
was a very'large one (about forty feet long), had been considerably in- 
jured by being driven ashore during a heavy gale in Chatham Straits. 
It was worth over $200, but a payment of $25 for her use and damages 
was satisfactory settlement. 



INDIAN AFFAIRS IN APRIL, 1880. 



WITCHCRAFT. 



Kothing of importance in connection with Indian affairs occurred dur- 
ing April, except a case of witchcraft. 

The stringent regulations and restrictions which had been placed upon 
hoo-che-noo, and its origin, molasses, had caused many of the Indians 
to start out on their spring fishing and seal hunting voyages at a much 
earlier period than usual, and the season for spring visiting was over. 

The Indians who remained at the ranch were very orderly and sober, 
and most of them were busy repairing damages to their houses, caused 
by the winter storms, and in preparing for canoe voyages. 

About this time there occurred, for the second time during our stay, 
an occasion when it became necessary for me to interfere to prevent the 
torture of a person accused of witchcraft. 

Stickeesh, a wealthy trader, and one of those sent to Chilkat the pre- 
ceding fall, returned broken down by inflammatory rheumatism. The 
shaman (Indian doctor), failing to relieve him, charged the sickness to 
the effect of witchcraft, as is usual in such cases, and pretended to earn 
the fee of ten blankets paid him by discovering the witch — who. as is 
usual, proved to be a simple young Indian, belonging to an unimpor- 
tant family. This man had been caught and bound for torture, when 
Annabootz heard of it, and the Indian policemen put a stop to further 
proceedings until they could report the case to me. They did not dare to 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 59 

do more than simply interfere themselves, for they shared in the super- 
stitious fear of the shaman's power, common to all of the Indians. 

By my direction the shaman, witch, and sick man were brought to 
the guard-house, where, after (I have no doubt vain) efforts to teach 
them, I caused the shaman to be confined in a cell until he returned the 
blankets to Stickeesh sent the latter to the medical officer of the James- 
town for treatment, and placed the accused witch under the care of him- 
self and family, assuring tbem that whatever happened to him would 
also happen to Stickeesh. Many Indians being present, I availed my- 
self of the opportunity to weaken, if possible, their faith in witchcraft, 
and gave the shaman fall permission to exereise upon me all of the sor- 
ceries of his profession while occupying a cell to which he was assigned 
until he should restore to Stickeesh the blankets he had received from 
him; and to this end he was permitted to carry into his seclusion such 
implements of his art as he had with him. Whether he tried or not I 
do not know ; the sentry reported that he saw no such attempt ; but af- 
ter release, which took place when the blankets were restored, he told 
the other Indians that his spirits had no power over the Avhite man — 
which was a good point gained, as it lessened the possibilities of any 
white man being suspected of witchcraft. 

Upon release, the shaman was assured that upon repetition of the 
offense his head should be shaved and his person subjected to a Russian 
bath; which, as they never wash themselves, nor comb or cut their hair 
(by which process, it is believed, they would lose their supernatural 
power), so frightened him that he at once left Sitka, with the threat that 
he would never again return ; and neither he nor any of his professional 
brethren ever again attempted to practice in Sitka. The experiment 
involved a, serious risk, and such Indians as were friendly to me person- 
ally expressed great grief and apprehensions for my safety. And had 
any misfortune occurred to me the belief in witchcraft and the powers of 
the shaman would have been greatly strengthened. As nothing did 
happen to me, I have hopes that the result was a weakening of this 
superstition. 

OPENING OF THE CHILKHAT AND CHILKHOOT COUNTRY TO THE 

WHITES. 

In September, 1879, certain events took place among the Indians, 
which were duly reported in my October dispatch, but which have been 
omitted from their chronological position in this report, because, although 
apparently at the time of slight importance, they proved to be the start- 
ing point of the most valuable results which sprung from our intercourse 
with the Indians, namely, the removal by the chiefs of the Ohilkhat and 
Chilkhoot tribes of all prohibition to the white men from entering their 
territory, which prohibition had been always strictly maintained ; and 
the bringing of these tribes and the Hoonah ludians into a most friendly 
intercourse with the whites. 

These events were reported as follows, in my dispatch dated October 
5, 1879 : 

The month of September has been marked by perfect freedom from drunkenness , 
fighting, or disorder of any kind in the Indian ranch. 

A great number of ludians have returned from hunting, &c, and the ranch is no 
longer deserted, but the returns have ceased to be celebrated by pot-a-latches ; the 
Indians throng the white settlement, but there are no disturbances. The residents 
state that there has never been so quiet a month. When we hrst arrived every night 
was made hideous by drunken orgies and mauy fights. I have not had cause to even 
censure an Indian since the raid made by themselves upon the cannery ranches. I at- 



60 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

tribute the change to the influence of the Indians in our employ. * * * There has 
been an unusually exciting cause for sprees: About the 25th of September news was 
brought by Indian canoes that there had been a big fight up in the Chilkhat country, 
between two families of the Chilkhats, viz, the Klockwatories (warriors) and the 
Onochtades, and that the chief of the former, Klotz-kutch (who is head chief of the 
tribe), was seriously wounded, and that a number on both sides had been killed ; the 
inciting cause having been a barrel of molasses with which Klotz-Kutch had given a 
pot-a-latch. 

There are quite a number of Chilkhats living in Sitka, among whom is Dick, one of 
my policemen, who is a nephew of Klotz-kutch, and a very intelligent Indian, speaking 
considerable English and reading and writing a little. 

He. assisted by the other policemen and " Sitka Jack," restrained the usual drunk 
which takes place on such excitements, and except that for a couple of days the 
miners could obtain no packers (they having all come into town to a caucus), no 
untoward event occurred. 

They have organized an expedition to visit the scene of contemplated trouble, and 
on the 3d of October three canoe loads, about 30 Indians in all, started for the Chilk- 
hat country (up Chatham Straits). If this vessel were a steamer I should have gone 
too, for these Indian wars are almost interminable and will do much to hazard 
American interests here. I did the next best thing in my power; judging that the 
influenceof such men asSitka Jack, Dick, Stickeesh, and others, who knew us and could 
explaiu to those who did not the value of white friendship auddanger of the opposite, 
would be very powerful, I resolved to secure it for our side, so helped to fit out the 
expedition, furnishing them with flags, provisions, &c, , and receiving from them 
the promise that they would do their best to prevent trouble. 

The party, over whom I hoped through the leaders I had appointed to 
exercise some control, were directed to report to Klotz-kutch, and say 
that I had sent them to help him keep his people in order, and that in 
return I expected him to always use his influence to secure good treat- 
ment to any white men who should come to his country to trade, and 
that I would be pleased if he would let white miners go into the interior 
to prospect the countryfor precious metals, which, if found, would enrich 
the Iudians also. This privilege had never been accorded, the Indians 
(Chilkhats) fearing that the whites would interfere with the trade with 
the Stich Indians who live in the interior, and whose trade the coast 
Indians monopolize. The Chilkhats were estimated as from two to four 
thousand in number^ and considered the most warlike of all the tribes. 
The country was reported to be rich in minerals, and the miners were 
very desirous of penetrating it, and it seemed more than likely that, 
sooner or later, bodies of them would undertake to force their way in, 
in which case serious troubles would probably have occurred. 

On the 12th of February, 1880, Dick, Stickeesh, and most of the 
party returned, Sitka Jack, with the remainder, having stopped at 
Swanson's Harbor, in Cross Sound, where he has a village at which 
he dwells in summer. Stickeesh was much broken down by inflamma- 
tory rheumatism, contracted during the voyage down, which sickness 
gave rise to the case of witchcraft reported. They brought an invita- 
tion from Klotz-Ku'tch for the white miners to come, and promises of 
welcome, and thanks to me. This invitation I extended to the miners, 
ol whom there were a number in town deterred from work on Baranoff 
Island by the great amount of snow still remaining on the mountains, 
the fall during the previous winter being unprecedented in amount. 
These men were ready to undertake such an expedition, and were of 
such characters as were best adapted. The project was freely discussed, 
meetings held, and an expedition to the Chilkhat country organized ; 
and tor the ensuing two months Sitka was quite lively with the prepa- 
rations for the expedition. 

Several boats were built, some from timber which was growing in the 
forest when the idea was conceived, and in May the party of pioneers 
were ready to start. * 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 61 

On the evening of the 11th May, a public meeting' was held, and a 
full understanding between the miners and myself arrived at, which is 
embodied in the following paper, drawn up by Mr. Bean : 

Sitka, Alaska Territory, May 11, 1880. 
We, the undersigned miners, do hereby pledge ourselves, to accept and be guided 
by Edmund Bean, as our captain or leader of the consolidated parties of prospectors 
now in Sitka, and proposing to search for gold in the interior of Alaska Territory, go- 
ing by water up Chatham Straits and lauding at the Indian village of Chilkat. We 
hereby pledge ourselves to behave orderly, accept and obey the lawful commands of 
our leader, and otherwise acquit ourselves as becomes orderly, sober, reasonable men. 
We also agree that no spirituous liquor shall be carried by any of us into the Indian 
country for the purpose of trade or barter with the natives. We furthermore do agree 
and pledge ourselves that if Captain Beardslee, commander of United States ship 
" Jamestown," will furnish us with such escort as in his judgement is proper to Chil- 
kat, that we will be guided by him or his officer or representative with us, and after- 
terward by our mining leader, Edmund Bean. 

Edmund Bean. William Zoble. J. Newton Massen. 

Robert A. Duggan. M. A. Hayes. Fred. Cushman. 

Geo. G. Langtry. Antone Marks. Preston Uoutemen. 

Thomas Lineham. Dennis Barrett. James McCluskey. 

Dankert A. Petersen. Thomas Keirnan. John Lemon. 

James Ta Hon. Geo. Hankrader. S.B.Mathews. 
Patrick McGlinchey. 

I agreed to furnish them with escort and letters of introduction. 

The second launch was fitted for the trip by removing her boiler, 
engine, &c, and Lieut. E. P. McOlellan assigned to the duty of escort. 
He was provided with the following letter to the Chilkhat chiefs, appar- 
ently an unnecessary move, as they neither read nor write, but really 
one of importance, as the Indians have a superstitious respect for written 
words, and there were with the expedition capable interpreters: 

TJ. S. S. Jamestown, 

Off Sitka, May 20, 1880. 
To the Chiefs of the Chilkhats, Klotz-Kutch and Elquesah. 

Chiefs: You have sent to me through Skeenga-Stocheen and Stickeesh, Indians in 
whom you and I place confidence, an invitation to the white men to come and pros- 
pect your country, and have promised to be their friends. The men who now come 
are those I have invited in your name. I feel sure from what I know of the bravery 
and honesty of the Chilkhars that you will keep those promises; therefore I send 
them, and the Great Father at Washington will be greatly pleased to hear that they 
have gone, and more pleased to hear next fall that you have all remained friends. 
The officer who delivers this acts as my representative. 

L. A. BEARDSLEE, 
Commander, TJ. S. N., and Senior Bepresentative of the Government. 

The following instructions were given to Lieutenant McClellan, and 
on the morning of the 20th of May the expedition, consistiug of five sail 
boats carrying nineteen miners and their help, and our launch, started 
under sail : 

U. S. S. Jamestown (3d rate), 

Off Sitka, May 20, 1880. 

Sir: You will proceed in command of the second launch of this ship, and in com- 
pany with a number of boats carrying miners and prospectors, a list of whom is here- 
with furnished to you, to the Chilkhat village, for purpose hereinafter specified. In 
starting from this place you will so arrange that you will be able to get through the 
rapids in Peril Straits before dark. On the eastern side of said rapids you will rind a 
good harbor. Mr. George L'ozian will accompany you as pilot. I have great confi- 
dence in his knowledge of the dangers of the inland waters. He will also act as 
Russian interpreter. 

Passed Assistant Surgeon N. M. Ferrabee, U. S. N., Ensign N. R. Usher, U. S. N., and 
Midshipman Woodworth are ordered to report to you for duty upon this expedition. 

Your crew will consist of 13 sailors of this ship, and Indians, Dick and Shukoff. 
Your boat will be armed with the Gatling gun, and small arms for each person. You 
will, under sail or oar, keep company with the boats of the miners, unless you find 



62 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

their pragma so slow as to greatly retard yon, in which ease you will push ahead 
and make the best of your way under canvas or oar, as shall be most expedient. 
You will use vonr own judgment as to anchoring for the night, tide, or weather. The 
miners have, as per agreement — a copy of which is furnished you— promised obedience 
to your orders and instructions, and have elected Edmund Beau as their captain, with 
whom you will confer. On reaching the Chilkhat village, you will allow no one to 
laud until permitted by yourself; and will, through an officer and Indian Dick, ar- 
range with the Uhilkhat chiefs for an interview as soon as possible. If for any reason 
this interview is delayed, you will obtain permission for the landing of such persons as 
may so wish, cautioning all persons obtaining such permission to commit no acts 
which will tend to create difficulties. 

At this interview you and such officers as may accompany you will wear uniform 
and side arms. During this interview, and at all times, the boat must be left in 
charge of an officer and sufficient force to guard it. The nature of this interview will 
be as follows : Say to them that last fall, when Klotz-Kutch was wounded, I sent with 
a party of Indians who wished to come to help him, Dick, his nephew, in whom both 
he and I have confidence; I also instructed Sitlsa Jack and Stickeesh to talk with 
the Indians and advise them to stop drinking hoo-che-noo and fighting. 

That when these men came back, they informed me that the Chilkhat chiefs invited 
The white men to come among them and prospect their country, and promised them 
welcome and assistance. This invitation and promise I have given in their name to 
the miners, and they now come in consequence. Tell them that had they not sent 
this invitation, these people would not have come, therefore they must treat them as 
guests ; and that all the miners have promised me to live peaceably and friendly 
with the Indians. Act throughout on the assumption that you have no doubt as to 
their keeping their promise. If, however, it becomes manifest that they will not do 
so, inform them that you will return and report to the government their failure to 
keep their word, and that in future no Chilkhat Indian will be a lowed to land at Sitka 
for trade or other purposes; that I will not give those who are here employment. You 
will then notify the miners of the failure of the mission, and request them to return 
with you, informing them that any or all who fail so to do forfeit their claim to your 
protection, and act entirely upon their own responsibility. 

After the completion of the business with the chiefs, you will return to this ship, 
making, e>< route, such stops at any ranch of importance as your time will permit, ex- 
plaining at each to the people the object of your so doing, which will be to assure 
them of the friendliness of the whites to them, and to caution them against commit- 
ting at any time any aggressive act against white men, warning them of the probable 
consequences. Should your voyage to the Chilkhat village and return to the eastern 
mouth of the Peril Straits have been accomplished in fifteen days or less, say by June 
1, you will visit the Kootznoo settlement on Admiralty Island, and there arrange 
for and hold interview with the chiefs, at which you will express to them strongly 
the disapprobation of the government in regard to the recent fight between themselves 
and the Stickiene (Stahkine) Indians at Wrangell. Make it plain to them that Wrangell 
is a town belonging to the United States, and that no fight between Indian tribes 
can be permitted in its vicinity. Tell them that it has been reported to me that thev 
intend to return to Wrangell to renew the trouble, and that if they so do They will be 
punished- That for what has already occurred no penalty will be exacted— assigning 
as your reason your knowledge that by Indian customs they had suffered a grievance, 
which neither you nor the government you represent approved. Obtain from them a 
promise to refrain from future hostilities, and return to the ship. These instructions 
are based upon the assumption that the results of your interview with the Chilkhat 
chiefs are satisfactory. Should, however, they refuse to grant the privilege requested, 
you will, after exhausting all amicable means, return as already directed. 

I leave to your own judgment the explanation to the various tribes of the advan- 
tages which will accrue to them by the presence of the whites. Make, however, no 
promises. Unless unavoidably delayed (in which case endeavor to communicate with 
me by canoe, promising payment by me from $10 to $30; according to the distance) 
return to this ship by the 1st day of June, at the farthest, aud as much earlier as pos- 
sible. Keep a full journal of the events of this expedition, obtaining all useful infor- 
mation possible. I have invited Mr. Marcus Baker, of the Coast Survev, to accompanv 
you. He will assist you in every branch of science. Wishing you'a pleasant and 
profitable trip, and that the results will be the opening of the interior of the countrv 
to the whites, 

I am, very respectfully, 

L. A. BEARDSLEE. 

r * a « t» ■** ^, , T ~, Commander Commanding. 

Lieut. E. P. McClellan, U. S. N. 

The launch returned to the ship on the 5th of June, and the report of 

Lieutenant McClellan indicated that the result was a success, and that 

the Chilkhat country was now fairly opened to the whites. This result 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 63 

was particularly gratifying, inasmuch as on the 3d of June a small 
trading steamer, the Favorite, the captain of which was well liked by 
the Indians, returned to Sitka from a trading voyage up Chatham 
Straits, and Captain Vanderbilt reported having spoken our party about 
40 miles from Chilkhat, en route to that place; and that he, while at 
Chilkhat, had endeavored to persuade the chiefs to remove the restric- 
tions and allow whites to enter the country, in which effort he had com- 
pletely failed, the chiefs refusing, and assigning as their reasons for so 
doing the risk of the whites interfering with their trade with the Sticks, 
and also that they did not wish the whites to come to them because they 
would bring liquor and debauch their women. 

The first of these objections we have met; the second is one which 
cannot be met, and no attempt was made — they take their chances. 

Through our efforts all prohibitions w-ere removed, and the miners 
were not unly permitted to go prospecting, but were furnished with slave 
packers at moderate wages, to be increased in case of success. 

The Chilkhat chief, Klotz-Kutch, had in this connection shown such 
evident good faith and character that I considered that I could, with 
propriety, break through a rule which had hitherto guided my actions, 
which was to in no case give any presents to the Indians when I wanted 
anything of them, considering that such action tended to increase their 
ideas of their own importance, and lead them to think that the whites 
alone were benefited by such changes as were made. I therefore sent 
him a present which, upon my subsequent meeting with him, 1 found 
was highly appreciated, and with it the following letter: 

United States War-ship Jamestown, 

Off Sitka, June 10, 1880. 

Chief: The Great Father in Washington, who is father of the Alaska Indians and 
the white men, will be greatly pleased when he receives the letter which I have sent, 
telling him of the good conduct of the chiefs of the Chilkhats, and that they have 
become so wise that they can see that it is best to be friends with the white men, 
through whom the Indians will be able to make money by selling all of their fnrs, 
oil, and other things, and who will bring them things which they need and cannot 
make themselves. 

I am glad that you kept your promises, and I felt sure that you would. Brave men 
of all colors are alike ; they will not lie. 

I send you a present of a valuable pipe and some American tobacco. Keep the pipe 
as long as you live, then give it to the next chief, to be used always as a pipe of peace, 
and smoked when you hold pow-wow with your white friends. Teach all of the Indi- 
ans that Mr. Vanderbilt is their friend, and that if they treat him well other steam- 
ers besides the Favorite will come to trade with them, and that if bad Indians should 
trouble him or his steamboat, the government will be angry. 
Your friend, 

L. A. BEAKDSLEE, 

Commander, U. S. JV. 

To Klotz-Kutch, 

Chief of Chilkhats. 

On the return, Lieutenant McClellan stopped, as instructed, at Kootz- 
noo, on Admiralty Island, and made it clear to the Indians that they 
would be punished if they resumed the war with the Stahkines at 
Wrangell. In promising to refrain, the Kootznoos requested permission 
to whip the Stahkines if they came to their neighborhood, which request 
was granted. 

The report of Lieutenant McClellan is herewith given ; also a card 
of thanks from the miners : 

U. S. S. Jamestown (3d rate), 

Sitka, Alaska, Jane 7, 1880. 

Sir: In obedience to your order of the 20th of May, I took command of the second 
launch of this vessel and proceeded to the Chilkhat village in company with four boats, 
containing miners and prospectors. Left here at 9 a. m. of May 20, and arrived at 



04 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

Pyramid Island Harbor, 4 miles from the Chilkhat village, on the morning of 26th 
May; Benl an officer ashore to make arrangements for an interview with the head 
men. He returned, reporting that the chiefs were 15 miles inland, that a messenger 
had been sent for them, and that they would he present at noon the following day. 
On the 587th 1 borrowed one of the boats of the miners, the water for 1-J- miles below 
the village being so shoal that it would have been imprudent to take the launch in. 
1 bad previously spent several hours in searching for a navigable channel without 
success, the flats being bare at low water. I invited such of the miners as wished to 
be present at the interview to accompany me to the village. Seven of them accepted 
the invitation, and I proceeded with Passed Assistant Surgeon N. M. Ferrebee, Ensign 
N. h\ I'sher. Mr. Marcus Baker, of the Coast Survey, Pilot George Cozian, aud the two 
Indian interpreters to the lauding. Found three chiefs, Klotz-Kutch, Elquesah, and 
Unaeoa, who had come down from the upper villages ; shook hands with them as I 
noted each one's name, aud told them I was a bearer of a message from the commander 
of the Jamestown, and then proceeded to read your letter to Klotz-Kntch and Elque- 
sah. and then such portions of your instructions as related to the Chilkhats, sentence 
by sentence, having Indian Dick translate it to them, aud having Indian Shukoff 
check it by translating it from Indian to Russian, and through Pilot Cozian from 
Russian to English. I explained the advantage it would be to them to have the 
white people come. Klotz-Kutch said he had lost father, grandfather, and brothers, 
and was an orphan, and therefore he gladly welcomed the white people, for they 
would be fathers and brothers to him. Two other Indians then came in, Rakee and. 
Tawawah, head men of the lower villages. I repeated to them the substance of the 
interview, and told them the miners bad come by invitation and that they must treat 
them as guests. They said they were glad the whites had come. A general talk then 
ensued, the miners offering fair wages, and an arrangement was made by which the 
Indians were to pack some of the goods across the land to the Chilkhat Inlet, instead 
of np the Chilkhat River and across the divide by that way. Having finished every- 
thing satisfactorily, and the best of feelings seeming between the miners and the In- 
dians, I returned to the launch. Having finished my business with the Chilkhats, I 
bid farewell to the miners, and wishing them luck in their search for gold, proceeded 
with the launch to the Indian village at Hootchenoo, on the west side of Admiralty 
Island. I arrived there on June 3. Found only one chief, Kichiral, or Hootchenoo 
Jack, in the village. I communicated to him your instructions, and warned him that 
the Indians would not be permitted to fight in the American town of Wrangell or its 
vicinity. I obtained from him a promise to abstain from auy further hostilities 
against the Stickiene Indians at Wrangell; he saying he had meetings with the other 
two chiefs of the village and would answer for them. At this village each house had a 
small garden plot about it, well fenced in and well cultivated. Potatoes principally 
raised ; they are small, but good. They keep the seed over wiuter. Fish seemed, 
plentiful. Two canoes came in with numbers of codfish and halibut. On the way 
down Chatham Straits spoke several canoes, and ran into a cove on Admiralty Island, 
opposite Cross Sound, where there was a ranch of Auk Indians. Expressed to them 
onr friendliness and cautioned them that if any white people were seen about during 
the summer to treat them well. I arrived at the ship at 7 p. m. of Juue 5, having 
been absent sixteen days and ten hours; all well and without any accident having 
occurred. The crew, in spite of head winds and hard labor at the oars, remained 
cheerful to the last. Mr. Cozian, the pilot, I found of great use. Mr. Baker had a 
fuud of information on every topic, and was a genial and instructive companion ; he 
was of great service to me in taking bearings, taking observations for position, and 
correcting our chart. At every opportunity I landed him, with artificial horizon, 
sextant, and dip-circle, to get the position and magnetic dip, the results of which ob- 
servations we ha* e not had, as yet, time to work up. We also made some collections 
in natural history, looking out for bird skins, collecting fish in alcohol, Sec. 

I inclose card from the miners, thanking you for sending the launch up to the Chil- 
khat country, and remain, 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

E. P. McCLELLAX, 

~ . _ . „ Lieutenant, U. S. X. 

Commander L. A. Beardslee, U. S. N. 

CARD OF THANKS. 

We, the undersigned miners of Alaska, tender our sincere thanks to Captain Beards- 
lee, ot L. B. 8. Jamestown, for the kind interest he has taken in our welfare iu living 
us protection and conveying us to our landing point, which gives us confidence in 
undertaking to prospect the country we are going to. Such action on the part of a 
government officer will have a beneficial effect on the Indians, and will induce other 
prospectors to come here and unlock the hidden treasures of Alaska, and develop its 
vast and unlimited resources. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 65 

Having made the passage from Sitka to the head of Lynn Channel, also a satisfactory 
interview being conducted by the officer in charge of the Cutter, Lieutenant McClel- 
lan, we wish hereby to tender him our sincere thanks for his kindness and attention 
during visit, also the other officers and men with him. The pilot, Mr. Cozian, also we 
thank sincerelv. 

EDMUND BEAN. 

ROBT. A. DUGGAN. 

]). A. PETERSEN. 

ANTONE MARKS. 

PAT McCLINCHEY, 

and fifteen others. 
May 29, 1880. 

OCCURRENCES DURING JULY, 1880. 

On the 4th day of July I received a letter from Mr. Edmund Bean, 
leader of the pioneer party. It was dated from the headwaters of 
Yukon, June 17th, and brought by an Indian doctor, who is a chief of 
the Ohilkhoots, and who had done the party good service. Mr. Bean 
stated that the party had "crossed the divide and are now camped on 
the banks of a lake, building boats preparatory to descending the 
Yukon"; that they had received good treatment and good service from 
the Indians, and that several other miners had joined them. 

On the 28th of June Aunahootz returned from a trip to Taku, to which 
place I had sent him a month before to check a war impending there, 
he having great influence with the Takus, with whom he is connected. 
He brought word that all was quiet. 

During July a trader named Errassan made a trading trip to Chilkhat, 
and on return reported good treatment. And during the same month 
a miner named Willoughby, who, having seen the ores brought by the 
Hoonahs in March, had accompanied them on their return home, arrived 
in Sitka, and stated that he had been well treated by the Indians during 
a two months' stay among them. He reported that frequently he heard 
them, while conversing, speak of the Jamestown; and Errassan reported 
the same ; and it was thus evident that the influence of the ship extended 
a long way beyond the range of her guns. 

During the three months of summer there were not over two hundred 
Indians in the ranch, and they were orderly and well-behaved, except 
upon one occasion. 

On the 5th of July they participated in the general hilarity, and old 
Aunahootz, having allowed his patriotism to overcome his sense of 
duty, gave a potalatch, and nearly all of the Kok-wa-tons got drunk, 
and several were badly cut in the ensuing fight. Upon this occasion 
Katlaan did most excellent service, and fully confirmed the good opinion 
I had formed of him. Unarmed himself r he disarmed a crazy drunken 
Indian who was slashing at random with a large knife, and who threat- 
ened our armed party which was landed to back the policemen. But 
for Katlaan's action the man would have been killed by our men, which 
was a result I did not wish, as when sober he was a good enough In- 
dian. 

On this occasion I punished several of the leaders quite severely, and 
had thoughts of discharging Aunahootz, but changed my mind, inas- 
much as his influence is very great throughout all the tribes and worth 
some sacrifice, to retain. 

The steamer arriving July 12, brought news of another trouble at 
Wrangell; this time between a visiting Chilkhat Indian, nephew of the 
chief Klatz-Kutch, and a white trader. The first named was drunk, and 
on being turned out of the store of the trader received a wound in the 
face, which by Indian logic is, until atoned for, a great disgrace. This 
S. Ex. 71 5 



(U; AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

affair was settled by the white man paying a demanded sum ; but news 
of this settlement was not brought by this steamer. The affair came to 
the surface again subsequently. 

On the 30th of July, I received from the miner ^Villoughby, living 
with the lloonahs. a letter, of which the following is a copy: 

Northwest Glacier, 
Cross Sound. Hoonah, July 11, 1880. 
Dbar Sir: The head chief of the Hoonahs, and the majority of the leading men 
heir, desire me to inform you that there is a party of Indians from Fort Simpson, 
British Columbia, now killing and destroying their sea otters, young and old. They 
think it is not right for foreigners to come to their hunting grounds and do so— kill 
their valuable animals and take their skins to a foreign market. These Fort Simpson 
Indians made some kind of arrangement with some of the Hoonah Indians to go there 
and hunt. I believe, gave them some guns and coats and other articles for a hunting 
right, unbeknown to the chief and leaders of the Cross Sound Indians. They want 
to know if you will protect them in making them return to British Columbia where 
they belong. You will excuse me if my information is useless. I was bothered day 
after day to give you this information. 

I remain, yours, most respectfully, 

E. G. WILLOUGHBY. 

Captain Beardslee. 

Commander of the U. S. man-of-war, Sitka. Alaska Territory. 

This letter was brought by a Hootnah canoe. I questioned the bearers, 
who stated that the Sim-Sims were still on the otter grounds, and I 
became satisfied that but for the promises made to me on the occasion 
of the visit in March, already reported, the Hoonahs would have driven 
the Sim-Sims away by force, in which case a war would have been in- 
augurated net ween the two tribes, which, as both were more or less 
closely connected with the other coast tribes of Southeastern Alaska 
and British Columbia, would have drawn them in, and proved very 
difficult to check. Such a war would undoubtedly endanger the life ot 
every unprotected white man or woman in the Archipelago, inasmuch 
as the Alaska Indians believed, and I think the English Indians knew, 
that the marauding expedition had been sent out well outfitted by white 
men at Fort Simpson ; and I felt that the government, having through 
myself, its representative, been instrumental in sending away from the 
protection of its forces the men who were now living among the Chil- 
khats and Hoonahs, and from whose efforts, should they prove success- 
fid in finding valuable deposits of precious metals, the value of this 
portion of our country would be greatly increased, should do something 
toward suppressing this war. 

It was also good policy to show to the Indians that the conduct of 
the Hoonahs in maintaining peace under wrong, and appealing to the 
government instead of redressing their own grievances, was appreciated. 

I. therefore, in a dispatch dated July 31, 1880. requested permission 
to charter a small trading steamer, the Favorite, expected daily at 
Sitka, for the purpose of going in person with an armed force to' the 
Hoonah country, to settle the impending troubles and to prevent the 
illegal destruction of the sea-otters of Alaska by English Indians with 
fire-arms, the statutes of the United States reserving these animals to 
Alaska natives, and forbidding the use of fire-arms. 

The steamer Favorite arrived a few days after, bringing as a passen- 
ger from Chilkhat one of the miners whohad belonged to the pioneer 
party, who reported to me that the Chilkhat and Chilkhoot Indians 
were very much incensed by the action of two men who, not origin- 
ally members of the party, had joined it subsequently, and. not being 



a 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 67 

bound by the pledge given by the others, had undertaken to trade with 
the Stick Indians. 

These men had been with the pioneers long enough to be identified 
with them by the Indians, who were impressed with the idea that the 
whites had been guilty of bad faith. 

This man brought me a message from Klotz-Kutch, begging that I 
would send or come and take these men away, for he was afraid they 
would be killed. 

The captain of the steamer, upon being consulted by me in regard to 
this affair, addressed to me the following letter : 

Office of the Northwest Trading Company, 

On board the steamer Favorite, 

Sitka, Alaska, August 4, 1880, 
Sir : By request of the Hoonah, Chilkhat, and Chilkhoot Indians, we beg to lay- 
before you the following facts as represented by them : 

Hoonah, Cross Sound. — On June 30, while anchored at Adolphus Bay, in the vicinity 
of which were camped some 300 Hoonah Indians, we were informed by them that 
three large canoes had just arrived, manned by 27 Indians from Fort Simpson, B. 0^ 
The nature of business of these British Columbia Indians we could not ascertain our- 
selves, as they left at night in a very suspicious way, seemingly to avoid us. Of course 
our steamer being unarmed and having but a small crew of white men aboard, and 
being among Indians whose characters were unknown to us, we did not feel safe in over- 
hauling them through the inspector of customs temporarily attached to the steamer* 
On our return to the same place on July 21, we found a still greater number of 
Hoonah Indians gathered there who seemed to be rather excited, reporting to us that 
the Fort Simpson Indians, mentioned above, were on their favorite sea-otter grounds r 
killing sea-otters with rifles, thns interfering with their own hunting. They openly 
stated that their intention was to take and kill the entire Fort Simpson expedition on 
their return from the sea-otter grounds. 

The Hoonah Indians requested us to advise you of the situation, hoping to hear from 
you before the Fort Simpson Indians could leave the country with their booty. 

Chilkhat and Chilkhoot. — On our arrival at Chilkhat, on July 24, we found the In- 
dians gathered at our anchoiage, very much worked up over the action of a miner 
named Steel, who, it seems, followed the large party of miners bound for the interior. 
The Indians report that Steel, while on his way up, w^as advising the interior Indians 
not to trade with the Chilkhats and Chilkhoots, as has been their custom for genera- 
tions, but to hold their furs for him, as he intended on his return to trade with them. 
This the Chilkhats and Chilkhoots cannot understand, as the body of miuers that left 
Sitka for Chilkhat carried a paper to them in which the miners bound themselves not 
to trade with the interior Indians or to interfere with any of the privileges enjoyed 
by the Chilkhat and Chilkhoot Indians heretofore. 

We were particularly requested to report this matter to you as soon as we reached 
Sitka, as the Indians wished to have an understanding in regard to this affair. 
We have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servants, 

CARL SPUHN, 
J. M. VANDERBILT, 
Managers Northwest Trading Company.. 
Commander L. A. Beardslee, 

U. S. Ship Jamestown, Sitka. 

The receipt of this information caused me to decide that it was my 
duty to go to this place at once, and not await the instructions of the 
department, which I could not receive in less than a month, even were 
I to telegraph full particulars. 

Our steam launches were not suitable, and I therefore made partial 
arrangements with Captain Vanderbilt to take myself and party to 
Hoonah, Chilkhat, and Kootznoo, hoping at the latter place to keep 
smothered the embers of war between the Stahkines and Kootznoos. 

The Favorite was not available until after the arrival of the mail 
steamer California, which came in on the 10th day of August. She 
brought as passengers Justice Deady, of the United States court at 
Oregon, and Maj. William Gouveneur Morris, special agent of the 
Treasury Department. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

1 submitted to the latter all of the information I had obtained as to 
the troubles already described; also as to certain illegal traffic in fire- 
man and liquor which had been reported to me as occurring at various 
places in the northern country ; in a letter of which the following is a 

°°P3 : u< s> s< Jamestown, 

Sitka, August 10, 1880. 
^u<- [have received, from various sources, information npon which I rely, which 
indicates that unless some steps are taken by the government to prevent serious 
trouble between the Alaska Indians at Hoonah and the British Columbia Indians 
from Fort Simpson is liable to occur, a large number of the latter Indians being at 
the latest dates actively engaged in killing with rifles the sea otter and fur seal on 
the hunting mound of the Hoonahs. By letters received by me from miners, and 
the owners of the steamer Favorite, I am requested by the chiefs of the Hoonahs to 




have followed* in the wake of the pioneer party to whom I furnished escort, and are by 
the Indians confounded with said party, and, as such, are held to be guilty of violat- 
ing the pledge given by the mining party, to refrain from tradiug with the Indians of 
the interior* The Chilkhat chief Klotz-Kutch, or " Holc-in-the-Face," and others send 
to me for advice, and express anxiety lest the men may be killed. 

Under these circumstances. I should be very glad to co operate in any steps it might 
be in your jndgment advisable to take towards suppressing these growing troubles. 

I think it a wise policy to recognize and encourage these Indians in thus submitting 
their wiongs to the government, and that a ceremonial visit from ourselves in per- 
son, accompanied by an armed force, will produce excellent effects. 

If you feel justified in furnishing a steam vessel, I will undertake to man, arm. and 
provision her for such a trip. 

I inclose letters bearing upon the subject. 
Respectfully, 

Maj. Wm. Gocverneur Morris, 

Special Agent Treasury Department. . 



L. A. BEARDSLEE, Commander. 



My reasons for addressing the foregoing to Major Morris were that I 
deemed it but courtesy to the Treasury Department to offer to its repre- 
sentative all assistance in my power to enable him to fulfill his duties, 
in lieu of undertaking myself to perform them. 

I addressed the special agent instead of the collector, as the latter had 
notified me that he should not call upon the Jamestown for any assist- 
ance whatever, our official difficulties having degenerated into a cessa- 
tion of intercourse upon his part. 

Had Major Morris not have arrived as he did I should not have hesi- 
tated to undertake the duty upon my own responsibility in my capacity 
of senior representative of the government in Alaska. 

After thorough study of the situation, Major Morris wrote to me the 
following letter: 

Office of Special Agent, Treasury Department, 

Siika, Alaska, August 11, 1880. 

Captain: In reply to your communication of yesterday, informing me of the pres- 
ence of certain canoes manned by Indians from British Columbia in the waters adja- 
cent to this port, engaged in the unlawful killing of the sea-otter, in contravention 
with section 1956 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, I have the honor to say : 

Thanking you very much for the information conveyed, and more particularly for 
your kind offer of assistance in the premises, it will afford me pleasure to take such 
steps as may be available for the purpose of putting a stop to these illegal practices 
and expeditions. 

Accordingly I have made arrangements with the managers of the Northwest Trad- 
iug Company for the ute of their steamer, the Favorite, at a certain per diem compen- 
sation. It will certainly be necessary to have an armed force on the vessel, not only 
for my own protection, but for the purpose of intimidating these Indians from a re- 
currence of these practices. A visit also from yourself personallv would have a verv 
healthy effect in preserving order throughout this archipelago. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. „ 69 

I have the honor, therefore, to request that you may be able to accompany me, with 
a portion of your command, at an early date, to Cross Sound and Chilkhat country. 
All details incident to the voyage, armament of the steamer, force, subsistence, &c, 
can be arranged between us personally. 

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, 

WM. GOUVERNEUR MORRIS, 

Special J gent. 
Commander L. A. Beardslee, U. S. N., 

Commanding U. S. Shij) Jamestown, Harbor Sitka, Alaska. 

Iii pursuance of the arrangements made between Major Morris, as 
representative of the Treasury, and myself, as senior naval officer, the 
proposed trip was made, and its objects and results reported to the ^Tavy 
Department in the following dispatch: 

U. S. S. Jamestown, Sitka, September 1, 1880. 

Hon. R. W. Thompson, 

Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C: 

Sir : In compliance with the request of special agent of Treasury Department, Wm. 
Gouverneur Morris, which request was based upon information given to him by me, as 
reported in my letter of August 11, as to many violations of the revenue laws, and in- 
trusion upon our waters of English Indians, hunting sea-otter, I have during the 
month of August accompanied him, with an escort of officers and men, upon a tour 
among the most prominent Indian tribes who inhabit the inland coasts of Alaska. 

Our trip was made in the steamer Favorite, belonging to the Northwest Trading 
Company, and beginning on the 14th day of August, extended over fourteen days, we 
arriving in Sitka on the 28th ultimo. 

The objects of the trip were, first, to visit the Hoonah villages in Cross Sound, and 
to there take steps to prevent a threatened war between the Hoonahsand the British 
Columbia Indians of Fort Simpson, the latter having trespassed upon the rights of the 
former by killing sea-otter upon the hunting grounds of the Hoonahs ; second, to visit 
the Kootzimo tribe on Admiralty Island, to prevent a renewal of troubles between 
them and the Stickienes at Wrangell, reports having been brought in that such 
troubles were about to occur ; third, to visit the Chilkhat country, for the purpose of 
strengthening and encouraging that tribe and the Chilkhoots in their advanced step of 
opening their country to miners and traders, which step was taken by my request, 
and is the legitimate growth from the successive steps of mine, in sending, in Septem- 
ber, 1879, several of our Indians to Chilkhat, upon the occasion of a big fight, which 
resulted in an invitation to the whites to come, in response to which, I, in May, fur- 
nished a party of pioneers with escort (see report of June 7, 1880) ; and in general 
terms, to have interviews with as many as possible of the leading tribes, among whom 
white men are now beginning to penetrate, and to establish with them a feeling which 
would cause them to receive the whites with favor, and treat them friendly. 

My reasons for going in person were, first, I am convinced that as " captain of the 
Jamestown" I have more influence with the Indians, from one end of Alaska to the 
other, than any other person ; I do not speak boastingly, but simply state afact, which 
is believed by all here, and confirmed by much evidence. 

From Hoonah, Chilkhat, and Kootznoo I had received requests from the chiefs for 
advice and assistance upon important matters, and I was assured by returning pioneers 
that I could, by a personal visit, mold the Indians as I wished. Second, as the period 
during which white men clung to the settlement of Sitka, and called for " protection " 
was so far terminated that they were now penetrating the country in all directions in 
safety, and starting various businesses, it was advisable that a civil officer of the gov- 
ernment, versed in trade and business matters, and familiar with the laws relating to 
such, should visit and teach them, and it was, I thought, proper that this representa- 
tive of advancing peace should be introduced by the retiring representative of war. 

In making up my party for this trip I selected Master G. C. Hanus, Dr. N. M. Fere- 
bee, aud ten of the best men of the ship. Mr. Hanus, because our voyage would 
carry us into unknown seas, where there existed many uncharted shoals and dangers, 
and where the safety of navigation required many corrections of all existing charts, 
and there is no young officer in the service better adapted for this duty than Mr. Hanus. 
He is observant, accurate, has a passion for surveying, and is indefatigable, and I feel 
confident that an examination of the sailing directions, surveys of harbors, locations 
of dangers, &c , which are incorporated in his report to me, and which I forward to 
the Bureau of Navigation, will fully justify my encomium. 

The vessel was armed with a howitzer and Gatling gun, and rifles for the crew. I, 
acting for the Navy Department, furnished fuel, at first relying upon the government 



70 AJFFAIB3 IN ALASKA. 

coal-pile, but rinding it, eventually, to be necessary to purchase wooden route and to 
use the steamer's sunk of soft coal, our hard coalnot making sufficient steam. 

Our first visit was to Koteosok Harbor, on Admiralty Island, where we arrived on 
the L6th of August, having been detained at an anchorage in Peril Straits by a south- 
east gale for two days. About the center of Peril Straits there exists a dangerous, 
uncharted rock, upon which several vessels have struck. Mr. Hanus was sent to 
search for it. and although it was nearly high water, succeeded in rinding and locating 
it. It is directly on the track of the V. S. S. Ossipee, as given on chart 223 corrected 
by Meade. At this place, Koteosok Harbor, the Northwest Company have established 
a trading post, and the agent, Mr. Edward DeGroff, reports that during his two 
months' sojourn alone among the Indians he has been well treated by them. This is 
the home of the Kootznoo Indians. 

Our interview with the Indians was held on the 17th, it having been necessary to 
send for a leading chief to a salmon river, some 25 miles away. This chief, named 
Kitchnath (Jake)," was one of the Indians who were, in 18H9, carried away as hostages 
by Lieutenant-Commander Mitchell, in the Saginaw, and I found him a prisoner when 
1 assumed command of that vessel ai Mare Island. My treatment of him and the other 
Indian prisoners on the Saginaw was fortunately such that as soon as Jake recog- 
nized me he was ready to comply with all that I should ask. The other chief, Gand- 
shana (Andrew), had a most excellent letter from Lieutenant-Commander (now Cap- 
tain) Meade, and from all I can learn of him he has continued to deserve it. 

In this and all subsequent interviews I took the lead, and endeavored to impress 
upon the Indians that the war-ship was sent because the government had reason to 
believe that the Indians were dangerous and unfriendly to the whites; that I had 
found considerable misunderstanding and bad feeling at hist, and that I had been 
compelled to punish a great many bad Indians: that at hist the better Indians looked 
on and neither helped nor hindered me, but that of late we had got to understand 
each other, and that bad Indians gave me very little trouble because other Indians 
restrained them. All of which and much more of importance here, but which would 
seem in description puerile, led up to my telling them that the Great Tyhee in Wash- 
ington was pleased and had now sent a peace tyhee, as I had told him the time had 
come for such officer to take hold. 

Throughout all the interviews it was considered inadvisable to make presents: such 
policy tends to lead the Indians to think that we are afraid of them and willing to buy 
their good-will. My plan is to impress them that they are the ones benefited, and 
that it is a great favor to them that the whites come. Major Morris then took charge 
and explained to them about business matters. The results of this interview with 
the Kootznoos were, promises of welcome and good treatment to the whites, not to 
renew the war at Wrangell, and to report to me, instead of redressing themselves, in 
case of any difficulty with whites. 

Leaving Koteosok at 4 a. m. August 17, we steered into Cross Sound, and at 3 p. m. 
anchored in Port Frederick Harbor (Komtockon), latitude 58 c 09 north, longitude 
135° 30' west, abreast the largest village of the Hoonah tribe. But very few Indians 
were at this ranch, which is the winter home of about 500, who during the summer 
are scattered among the inlets and on the coast, fishing for halibut and salmon, and 
hunting sea-otters. The hunting ground of the latter is about 30 miles northwest of 
Cape Spencer, and it was upon these grounds that a company (thirty canoes carrying 
three men each) of Fort Simpson Indians had been depredating. As there were no 
chiefs at the main village, we left there on the morning of the 18th. and ran to a har- 
bor on an island, not named on charis, but called by the Indians Tesich. As we sur- 
veyed and made a chart of this harbor, we have called the island " Sbeiman Island," 
and the harbor "Willonghby Cove"— a man named Willoughby making his home 
here among the Indians. It was on information sent by Willoughby (confirmed by 
others) that Morris has acted. Willoughby arrived in Sitka the dav before we started 
and accompanied us, and was quite useful through his local knowledge. We left him 
at his cove. In passing Point Adolphus, latitude 58° 1> north, longitude 135° 41, 
and thence to Willoughby Harbor, we encountered manv icebergs. 

At this place (Willoughby Cove) we held interviews with the Hoonah chiefs, Kah- 
lodushak, Klaratoosah, and Kahemuk, who were the men who induced Willoughby 
to write me. The first named is a venerable and very eloquent man, and has great- 
authority with his tribe. We learned from them that the "King George" Indians 
had gone home a few days before; that he had sent to them a letter which I had sent 
him by Willoughby, and that when they read it (the Fort Simpson Indians are edu- 
cated and can read and write) they went away, but said they would return in Septem- 
ber, with sixty canoes, and would not care then for the Jamestown, that thev were 
" King George" Indians, and the "Bostons" could not touch th-m. 

After the usual interview, conducted by myself as war tyhee, Major Morris continued 
the talk, and arranged a great deal of business in his own department. The Hoonahs 
were very much pleased at the attention paid to their request, and have promised 
not to fight the "King George" Indians, but to report to me if thev come again, 



■HP 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 71 

Major Morris promising thorn to endeavor to get the English authorities at Victoriato 
stop the projected raicL I trust that he will be successful, for otherwise I shall have 
a very difficult task in endeavoring to Btop a war which will involve, the homo gov- 
ernments. A deep hay, named by me ''Glacier Bay," which is not on Ihe chart, pene- 
trates the northern coast of Cross Sound, between longitude 35° 38' west, and 135° 5G 7 
west. This bay is 35 miles deep, and at its head are live immense glaciers, from which 
the icebergs we have encountered are derived. 

As this bay is entirely unknown, and as a branch of the lloonas were in the upper 
part of it, we, depending upon the local knowledge of Willoughby and an old Russian 
of our crew, who had been up it in command of a schooner, concluded to try to inter- 
view the Indians, and make a, running survey. We failed in the former, as, when we 
reached the inlet up which they lived, we found a bar which prevented our reaching 
them ; but we got a pretty fair chart of the bay, and returned that night to an anchor- 
age to the eastward of Point Adolphus. 

On the 22d we left this anchorage and at 2 p. m. anchored in Swanson's Harbor, lat- 
itude 58° 13' north, longitude 135° 13' west, just inside Cordova Point, to await low- 
water, to enable us to locate a dangerous shoal. 

There is here an Indian ranch, the head chief of which is Sitka Jack, who was ab- 
sent. We obtained wood, and a chief named Karshle was in charge, whom we inter- 
viewed. 

At b a. m., 23d, we started for the above named shoal, which is so conspicuous at 
low-water that I cannot conceive how it has escaped notice. We stopped and landed 
Mr. Hanus with instruments on it at 8 a. m. This shoal is in latitude 58° 09' north, 
longitude 135° Ob' west, just in the fairway of the junction of Cross Sound and 
Chatham Straits, and was from 3 to 7 feet out of water, and at low- water fully one- 
fourth of a mile square. At high- water it would cover from 11 to 15 feet, according 
to tides. As this rock is not on any chart, nor described in any sailing directions, its 
locating is of great importance, and I named it " Hanus Rocks." 

We then proceeded up Lynn Canal for Chilkat. The day was tine and warm, and 
the mountain scenery, which included hundreds of glaciers, maguiticent. Before 
passing iuto Chatham Straits we had a fine view of Mounts Fairweather, Cri lion, and 
Perouse. At 6 p. m. we auchored in William Henry Bay, on west side of Lynn Canal, 
latitude 58° 44' north, longitude 135° 19' west, to "procure wood, which the Indians 
cut and cord for the company for $2 per cord, and it is most excellent fuel (hemlock). 
We made survey of harbor, &c. On 23d, 6 'p. in., we arrived at the trading post be- 
tween the Chilkat aud Chilkoot villages. We here found that our visit was very op- 
portune, as it was at once reported to us that a war had started between the Chilkats 
and Chilkoots. The Chilkats and Chilkoots have for generations claimed the exclu- 
sive right to trade with the Stick Indians, who live iu the interior and are not allowed 
to come to the coast, and it was to prevent trespass upon the trade that they have 
hitherto objected to the whites coming among them ; and their consent to the going iuto 
the interior of the miners was based upon promises made by the latter to refrain from 
trading with the Sticks. Their suspicion that Mr. Steele (who was not bound by 
promise) was endeavoring to establish the forbidden trade, had led them to appeal to me 
tor assistance to prevent his so doing. 

The inclosed sketch * will, with brief description, enable you to understand the situa- 
tion. 

The northern extremity of Lynn Canal is bisected by a narrow tongue, which pro- 
duces two deep inlets, called, respectively, Chikat and Chilkoot Inlets. These are 
the most powerful and warlike tribes on the coast and their main villages are situated 
about 20 miles up rivers which empty into the inlets. 

The mouth of the Chilkat River is obstructed by flats which can be passed only by 
canoes. Just below these flats, on the western side of the peuiusnla, there is a village 
called the "Lower Chilkat Village," but as it is inhabited by about equal numbers 
of Chilkats and Chilkoots, aud governed by a chief of the latter tribe, it is more prop- 
erly a Chilkoot village, and at it the two tribes meet for trade, &c, a trail crossing 
the peninsula. At the eastern end of this trail there is a good harbor, Portage Bay, 
and the Northwest Trading Company have built a house and established a trading 
post at this point, arouud which a new village will soon grow. The trader, a Mr. 
George Dickenson, is married to a Tongas Indian woman, who speaks, reads, and 
writes English, and is a missionary. Through the Dickensons we learned as follows : 

A few days before a nephew of Klotz-Kutch, named Yakekoko, being drunk, desired 
to attack and kill a Frenchman named Pierre Erassard, who was at the Chilkat vil- 
lage, in a boat from Sitka on a trading voyage. Yakekoko has what is termed a 
" blood feud" with the whites, he having been stabbed last winter in Wraugell by a 
white man named John Currie, and in consequence has sworn to kill a white man to 

* Hydrographic Office Chart No. 883, which embraces this locality, is substituted fo r 
the sketch referred to. 



72 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

■ ■ ><ot even " The attack upon Erassard was prevented by Klotz-Kutch, but as a barrel 
Of molaeees had been sold to the Indians (probably by the same Frenchman) many 
were drank and a big fight ensued, during which Yakekoko shot and killed a Chilcoot 
Indian named Kootsnatz, the man who last fall wounded Klotz-Kutch (see letter of 
October 1), creating then a riot, which I had stopped temporarily by sending up Dick, 
Sitka Jack. &C. „ „ Jx _ _ 

Klotz-Kutch is getting old, and a class of young fellows are disposed to rebel against 
his authority, his ideas being in advance of theirs as regards the admission of miners, 
traders, and missionaries. All of the Indians of the lower village side with the Chil- 
koots. and alter several days of skirmishing at the main Chilkat village, the side op- 
posed to Klotz-Kutch, which was headed by Danawak, chief of lower village, sent to 
the main Chilkoot village for re-enforcements. The day before we arrived two canoes 
carrying over forty men had passed the trading post bound to Chilkoot from Chilkat, 
and every man belonging to the lower village had gone to the meeting, at|which a big 
potalatcn or drunk was taking place. 

I learned also that Mr. Steele, the miner who was believed by the Indians to have 
endeavored to trade with the Sticks, was stranded about 15 miles by water above the 
Chilkoot village, and that the Indians refused to bring him down. Messengers were 
at once dispatched to Chilkat and Chilkoot to the head men, requesting them to de- 
clare a truce, and to meet us in council at Portage Bay on board the Favorite ; also to 
the Chilkoot chief, requesting him to send at once a canoe for Mr. Steele and bring 
him down to us if he wished. 

On the 24th Klotz-Kutch and Colchica, chiefs of the Chilkhats, accompanied by the 
trader Erassard, arrived ; also, from Chilkhoot, Mr. Steele. Erassard confirmed the 
story of the Diekensons as to state of affairs in Chilkhat, saying that every night the 
righting, which was suspended during the day, was renewed. This is Indian custom, 
their system of "getting even" making it very dangerous to a man to be identified as the 
killer of another^ even in battle, and Steele reported that the entire Chilkhoot village 
was drunk when he left. Steele denied the reports which had been made, but did 
not convince me that he was entirely blameless. 

That evening an interview was held with the two chiefs, and the matter of difficul- 
ty between Steele and the Chilkhats adjusted satisfactorily. We declined to talk of 
the war now progressing, until the Chilkhoots should be present. August 25. in the 
morning, a light canoe, with the American flag flying, came down from Chilkhoot. 
In her were several Chilkhoot chiefs. We appointed a conference at 10 a. m., and 
they went to the beach to breakfast, refusing to go to the trading post because the 
Chilkhats were there. 

At 10 a. m. we fired a gun, and soon after all came on board. As this was a very 
important interview, we all dressed in uniform and epaulets, and the Indians, as far 
as in their power, vied with our splendor. Major Morris also donned a uniform, as it 
was necessary to add to our strength everything which could impress the natives. 
There were present, Chilkhats: Klotz-Kutch and Colchica, chiefs of main village; 
Chilkhoots, Danawak, chief of lower village ; Karskarz (Indian shaman), chief of 
Chilkhoot village, and a young fellow, brother of Danawak, and his probable suc- 
cessor, who is very influential, and who has made lots of trouble. The following is a 
synopsis of the interview : 

Interview between Comma* der L. A. Beardslee, U. S. Nary ; Major TVm. Gourerneur Morris, 
special agent Treasury Department ; CMlkhat chiefs, Klotz-Kutch and Colchica ; Chilkhoot 
chiefs, Danawak, Karskarz, and others, at Trading Post, Portage Bay. Chilkhoot Chan- 
nel, August 25, 1880. 

Geo. Cozian and Shukoff, Interpreters. 

Past Assistant Surgeon Ferrabee and Master G. C. Hanns. IT. S. Navy, were present. 

Commander Beardslee: "I have sent for you to talk with you on a subject of 
great importance. I do not Avish you to interrupt me, but to wait till I have finished, 
and then I will hear you. Many years ago a great Tyhee of the United States. Mri 
Wm. H. Seward, came to this country. He traveled all over it, and when he reached 
Chilkhat he was the guest of Klotz-Kutch, and he writes in this paper you have shown 
me that Klotz-Kutch, and all of the Chilkhats used him well. He was' greatly pleased 
with what he saw of the country, and when he got home he told his government that 
it was good ; that the lands were rich in furs, minerals, and timber ; the waters teem- 
ing with valuable fish, and the Indian tribes brave, intelligent, and disposed to be 
friendly ; and by his advice the great Tyhee in Washington bought Alaska, and paid 
many millions of blankets. 

"White men began to come to this country, among them both good and bad men; 
the last, seeing the riches of the country, wished to keep it to themselves, so thev 
wrote false letters and the white men read that the country of Alaska was • bad land' 
and the Indians a dangerous, treacherous lot of men, and that the whites could not 
stay here unless the government sent a war-ship or soldiers to protect them. Some of 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 73 

these reports were true, for the white men and Indians did not understand each 
other, nor how to get along together. 

" The government sent the war-ship asked for, and selected me to command it, and 
it told me to protect the whites, and Indians who desired it, from the bad Indians. 

" I have been on this duty over fifteen months. At first my work was very hard. 
Bad Indians and bad white men gave me much trouble, and the good men would not 
assist me, but stood and looked on, because they did not know me; but as time 
passed, and they saw that the war-ship was the enemy of the bad men only, and the 
friend of the good ones, these last began to help me, and when I asked the old men to 
make the young men do right, they did so. Then they began to send to me to ad- 
vise and help them when they had troubles, and I did so, and by my request the 
Kootznoos and Stickienes, the Hoonahs, and Sim- Sims (Fort Simpson Indians), and 
the Chilkhats and Chilkhoots stopped wars that had started, and all sent me word 
that they wanted the white man to come among them and teach them. So I wrote to 
the Great Father that war times were over, and that it was now time to send teach- 
ers for the children, traders to do business, and a peace Tyhee to teach the Indians 
how to do business with the whites. Such a Tyhee has come witb me. I came my- 
self that I might get acquainted with all of the chiefs who have helped me so much, 
and that I might introduce to them the business Tyhee as my friend, that they might 
know that the war and peace Tyhees of the white men worked together. 

"At Koeteosok, Kootznoo, Hoonah, Tink-ha-tah and other places, we found all 
quiet and peaceful, and we talked with the chiefs — I about such matters as I had 
charge of, and the business Tyhee instructed them how to carry on their business with 
the whites ; but, now we have arrived at Chilkhat, the business Tyhee cannot talk, for 
there is war, and my work is not yet finished. 

"Unless this war is stopped at once I shall leave here to-day and go back to the 
Jamestown and tell the Great Tyhee in Washington that the Chilkhats and Chilkhoots 
are not yet ready for a talk with the business Tyhee, and that the white men must 
not come beyond Cross Sound. I am very grieved and mortified. Cannot you four 
men, and will you not, stop this trouble, which is now but like a little fire which has 
started, and which can easily be put out by a cool breath, but which, if it gathers 
headway, will destroy the country. Will you not help me to blow it out ?" 

At this point a conversation between themselves was followed by a request that we 
should hear the story of the war and act as arbitrators ; this we refused to do. Such 
action would have been highly impolitic. It would be impossible for any white man to 
place just the right weight on the various points which would arise. From an Indian 
point of view, in which both parties would coincide, acts which we might condemn 
would be considered as right, and vice versa, and I said to them : 

"That we cannot do ; we did not come here to interfere in your affairs ; we came in 
a little boat, as friends, to pay a visit ; we know that you Indians have laws, and that 
by them this dispute can be settled better by your chiefs in cool deliberate council 
than by young men, crazy with hoo-che-noo, killing each other." 

Klotz-Kutch. " We have listened to what you have said, and we agree that it is 
better that we should do what you say, but we cannot settle the affair without con- 
sulting the family of (?) (the shot man). I would rather pay two hundred blankets 
than have a long war about a bad man that was not worth a hundred. We are the 
rulers of all the Indians, and we promise you that the war shall stop now, and that 
such payment as a council decides is just shall be paid by me." 

Danawak and Karskarz, the Chilkoot chiefs, indorsed the promise of Klotz-Kutch, 
and the two parties who, up to this time, had In Id aloof from each other, began a 
friendly consultation. 

I then said to them : "Now that you have all joined in this promise, am I to un- 
derstand that, except as to the amount to be paid, the whole affair is settled, and 
that the war is over?" All assured me that such was the case, and I then said: "I 
know that you will keep your word, for you are warriors, and brave, and only cow- 
ards lie, and I know that you old men have wisdom enough to see that it is best to 
settle a trouble without anger." 

Then 1 introduced Major Morris, who had a long talk with them on business mat- 
ters — smuggling, whisky dealing, &c. They manifested much interest in the subject- 
matter of the major's address, asked a number of questions, and promised to be guided 
by his instructions. Both of the tribes were greatly pleased by an offer that Mr. 
Vanderbilt, the agent of the Northwest Company, had authorized Major Morris to 
make, viz, to build at the trading post a comfortable school-house, where those who 
wished could be taught by Mrs. Dickenson, the wife of the post trader, and they said 
that they would not only send their children, but would build a new village around 
the post so that the children could be with their parents ; and after consulting to- 
gether the Chilkhats selected a site to the westward and the Chilkoots one to the east- 
ward of the store. 

They received, with considerable amusement, a proposition made by Major Morris 
that on future trips of the Favorite good, wholesome beer, which we whites drank 



74 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

and got tat and healthy on (illustrating by his own person as an example), should be 
substituted for the trouble-brewing molasses. 

It is inv belief thai it" this change can be made gradually, the use of molasses, as a 
beverage, can be greatly reduced; and so thought the chiefs, who are very willing to 
have the experiment tried. 

After the interview we exhibited to them the howitzer and Gatliug. firing a number 
of rounds from both: the action of the Gatliug, which was mounted on a pivot block 
aft, so that we could sweep two-thirds of the horizon, was particularly interesting to 
them, as it taught them what one mail could do to a fleet of canoes coming from all 
directions. 

After this they all went ashore together to hold a pow-wow, and finish up the busi- 
ness. Klotz-Kutch, who had evidently anticipated that the case would go against 
him, one of his family having taken a life, which must be atoned for by another, or 
payment, had brought with him a bale of furs and blankets; and we having thus ac- 
complished all of the objects of our mission, including a treaty of peace, and the quell- 
ing of a war which had' already put a stop to all trade, and had endangered the lives 
of United States citizens, and which might have been prolonged indefinitely, started 
August 25, at 1 p. m., for Sitka, arriving at that place on the 29th. 

During the trip the Northwest Trading Company, through its agent, 
Capt. J. M. Vanderbilt, extended to us every facility in its power, and 
Mr. Hanus sustained his reputation not only as a valuable executive, but 
by his hydrographic work, in carrying out which he displayed unusual 
zeal and ability. 

The principal results of our hydrographic work are incorporated in 
hydrographic No. 97, 1880, and in Hydrographic Office chart Xo. 882, 
which are appended to this report; also, an extensive and important cor- 
rections to Hydrographic Office chart No. 225. 

At each place visited Mr. Morris made arrangements with the most 
trustworthy Indians, through which we believed such offenses against 
the laws as importation by white traders of liquor would be reported 
to the Treasury official at Sitka. And we left at each place an ardent 
desire upon the part of the natives that white men should come and 
live among them. 

ORIGIN OF THE FORAY OF THE ENGLISH INDIANS UPON THE ALASKA 

WATERS. 

After our return to Sitka I received information from a reliable 
source that the expedition of the Fort Simpson Indians to the sea-otter 
hunting grounds of the Hoonahs, had been planned and outfitted by 
white residents of British Columbia, and that the marauding Indians 
were in the employ of these whites. 

The Hoonah Indians had told me the same story, and had stated that 
the " Sim-Sims" boasted of their white allies. Their story being thus 
confirmed, I at once communicated to the department the information 
in the following dispatch: 

U. S. S. Jamestown, 

Sitfoi, September 11, 1880. 

Sir: Since our return to Sitka from our trip to Chilkat, Hoonah. &c, I have re- 
ceived information that the Fort Simpson Indians who have been engaged hunting 

for sea-otters on the grounds claimed by the Hoonahs, were fitted out by Hall, 

the factor of the Hudson Bay Company at Fort Simpson. This man expresses great 
indignation at the course of the United States Government in taking steps to preserve 
the Alaska waters for Alaska Indians, and declares that the British Indians shall go 
when and where they please, and that he will supplv them with food, ammunition, 
and arms, with instructions to fight if necessary. 

The Rev. Mr. Crosby, a missionary of the Wesleyan Methodist Church at Fort Simp- 
son, is very violent in his support of the views of Mr, Hall, and as he has a groat in- 
fluence among the Indians, exerts it in this direction. 

Both parties claim that there is " nothing in the treatv'" which takes from the Fort 
Simpson Indians a right which they have always held, of killing fur-bearing animals 
in Alaska, and trading, with English goods, with Alaska Indians; and Mr. Crosbv de- 



: 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 75 

glares that he will so instruct them, and to go to war with any Indians or other per- 
sons who attempt to molest them while ho engaged. 

In the event of the expected raid this fall, I shall simply act as an adviser to the 
Indians, urging them not to go to war, but to await patiently until the Letters I have 
written upon the subject shall have been received in Washington. 

1 shall not tell them not to fight, for I am utterly unable to see that my orders are 
carried out, and do not care to expose weakness. 
Verv respectfully, 

L. A. BEARDSLEE, 

Commander, U. S. N. 
Hou. R. W. Thompson, 

Secretory of the Navy. 

EVENTS IN AUGUST, 1S80. 

During the month of August three police cases which were acted 
upon bv me were reported to the department in mv dispatch of Sep- 
tember '12, 1880. 

Early in the month a Creole named Sinakoif, who has several times 
been subjected to discipline for similar offenses, got drunk and beat se- 
verely his father and mother, who are old people, and also a little 
brother. The parents complained to me and asked for protection. 

Later in'the month another equally disorderly Creole, named, Velasse, 
committed a similar offense, and was reported by those he had beaten. 

In both of these cases, after careful investigation, I punished these 
men by confinement on bread and water diet, taking this step simply 
because I was fully assured that they deserved punishment; that un- 
less punished so that a fear of repetition would restrain them, the lives 
of those who had reported them would be in danger, and because I had 
the power and will to so act, which no one else in Sitka had. I therefore 
carried into execution the dictates of natural law, and used our strength 
to protect the weak. 

In handling another case which arose during the same mouth, I found 
that it was not advisable to depend upon natural laws, and was reduced 
to accepting the only law existing in the country which could meet the 
exigency, viz, Indian law. 

On the 20th of August one Indian caught another committing adul- 
tery with his wife, and shot him. The brother of the shot man, as soon 
after as possible, shot the shooter. All of this occurred at the ranch 
near the cannery. 

Mr. Eockwell sent an armed party, arrested the living murderer, and 
held him in confinement, with an accomplice, until my return, when the 
matter was submitted to me. 

I was greatly puzzled how to handle it. While I had no scruple in arbi- 
trarily punishing a case of assault and battery upon women and children, 
and felt competent to do so, yet I could not strain my authority to such 
extent as to punish properly the crime of murder. The two deaths left 
the two families even ; the quarrel had been settled, and the two corpses 
burned under one blanket on the same pile. 

I have no method of sending criminals to Oregon, and no funds from 
which the expenses of their transportation and that of witnesses can be 
paid; and I am sure that it is not in the power of any United States 
judge to decide justly a case involving Indian customs, laws, and evi- 
dence, unless he has made a careful study of such matters, and is fur- 
nished with full and complete evidence ; and I believe that the settle- 
ment of one such case in accordance with our laws would do more harm 
than good, unless the precedent thus established could be consistently 
followed up, not only on Indians within reach of the Jamestown, but 
with all throughout the country of Alaska. 



7G AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

\\ ith no law nearer than Oregon, nor forces except at Sitka, the exe- 
cution of an Indian at Portland would probably be supplemented by 
the murder of one or more of the whites in the interior. 

I considered it my duty to complete what I had begun, and insure the 
sat'ctv of these men', even if to do so I was compelled to act as I have in 
this Vase and shall in future, unless I am otherwise instructed by the 
department, namely, until Congress sees fit to furnish a substitute, to 
recognize the only law of this country — the Indian law, founded on the 
old Mosaic— and, when a murder among themselves is fully atoned for, 
according to their ideas, either by the death of the murderer or payment 
for the life, and I am assured that all parties interested are satisfied, 
and no further troubles will spring up, to do as I did in this case, lect- 
ure the criminals and let them go. 

Thus the anomalous case was presented that the only governing power 
in Southeastern Alaska, viz, the will and judgment of a naval com- 
mander, could not, without being stretcheJ beyond the limit that even 
the most full discretionary instructions could give him. prove equal to 
the administration of justice in case of murder. A man who committed 
simple assault and battery could be and was punished, but if he com- 
mitted this assault to the extent of killing his adversary, he was safe. 

From the date of my return to Sitka, August 28, until my detachment 
September 13, 1880, no further event of importance in connection with 
Indian affairs occurred, and when I left, " harmonious relations had 
been established between the whites and Indians" throughout the 
country. 

I considered the information communicated to me and reported in my 
dispatch of September 11 of sufficient importance to justify my stopping 
at Victoria, while on passage southward, and seeking an interview with 
the British Indian commissioner, Colonel Powell, E. A., on the subject 
of the letter, and also in regard to possible causes of future trouble, due 
o uncertainty as to the location of the boundary line. 

The consultation between Colonel Powell and myself, is reported in a 
dispatch, as follows: 

Port Townsend, W. T., 

September 23, 1880. 

Sir: While at Victo.ia, B. C, where I remained three days, I held consultation 

with Dr. J. W. Powell, superintendent of Indian affairs of British Columbia, in regard 

o the status of Indian affairs in Alaska, in connection with those of the adjacent 

ritish Columhi a tribes, &c. I explained fully to him the evil results which would neces- 

arjly follow a persistence upon the part of Messrs. Hall aud Crosby in carrying out 

heir design of sending English Indians, fitted out for war, to hunt in Alaskan waters, 

nd gave him such information as I had obtained during my personal visits to Hoonah 

and other Indian villages. 

Dr. Powell, who has full power to carry into effect anv course he may adopt— hav- 

i ng a steam gunboat, the Pocket, at his service— assured me tbat he would at once 

ake all necessary steps to prevent another expedition by the English Indians to the 

Hoonah grounds, and that he would at once report the matter to the Dominion Gov- 

e rnment at Ottawa, reporting also such information as I gave him, and my views, in 

which he coincided, in regard to the Chilkhat and Chilkoot Indians. 

These Indians have several villages, some of which mav be (no one knows posi- 
tively) on the English side of the boundary line, while the others are unquestionablv 
n the American side. All of these villages, belonging to one tribe, should belong to, 
nd be governed by, the same power, preferably that of the United States, inasmuch 
s the tribe is connected by marriage and emigration with several of the American 
nbes, notably the Sitkas, Stickienes, Hoonahs", Hoo-che-noos, and Auks. 
This admixture would produce pernicious effects if part of the Chilkhats. or Chil- 
koots were to be led to consider that they were King George Indians, and not subject 
o our control; and secondly, should it ever be necessarv to send armed forces to the 
hilkhat country, England could not do so without passing them through United 
tates waters, and making a base of operations upon United States soil 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 77 

In accordance with the request of Dr. Powell, I wrote a letter, copy of which is in- 
closed, upon which, and our conversation, he will hase his actious. 

I had also an interview with the Rev. William Duncan, missionary at Metletcatlah, 
who possesses great influence among the British Indians. Our conversation was in- 
formal, but I am fully convinced that he will use his influence to prevent the threat- 
ened troubles. 

Very respectfully, 

L. A. BEARDSLEE, 

Commander, U. S. ST, 
Hon. R. W. Thompson, 

Secretary of the Nary. 

[Inclosure.] 

Victoria, B. C, 

September, 21, 1880. 

Dear Sir : In connection with our conversation in regard to Indian affairs in Alaska 
and the adjacent English territory, I would inform you that in July last the Hoonah 
Indians, who live in Cross Sound, sent word to me, then in command of the United 
States ship Jamestown, at Sitka, that Indians from Fort Simpson, B. C, were en- 
gaged in hunting sea-otters on the grounds to the northwest of Cape Spencer, claimed 
by the Hoonahs to appertain to themselves, and requested my advice and assistance 
in driving the Fort Simpson Indians away. 

I wrote a letter to the chiefs advising against fighting, and soon thereafter paid a 
visit to the Hoonah villages, and investigated the affair, with results as follows: that 
three canoes, carrying thirty Fort Simpson Indians, had for a month been hunting 
upon the grounds of the Hoonahs, against the protest of the leading men of the tribe ; 
that they had established themselves at the first by free distribution of liquor to the 
few Indians (Hoonahs) who, at the date of their arrival were on the grounds; that 
upon being shown my letter the Fort Simpson Indians went away, saying that in fall 
they would return with a large number (sixty) canoes, and that then they would not 
care for the Jamestown; and that they claimed to have the backing of white men. 

After my return to Sitka, I learned from sources in which I have confidence that 
this party had been outfitted by Mr. Hall, the factor of the Hudson Bay Company at 
Fort Simpson, and that said Hall had publicly declared his intention to fit out a large 
party to go again this fall, and that he should furnish them with guns and ammuni- 
tion, and instruct them to fight if necessary. I learned further that a clergyman named 
Crosby, who possesses much influence with the Indians, indorsed strongly the views 
and plans of Hall, and declared his intention to instruct the Indians to the same effect. 

In my judgment, a persistence in this course will inevitably result in a war between 
the Hoonahs and Fort Simpson Indians, which will spread all along the coast. 

In regard to the Chilkhat and Chilkoot Indians, there being some uncertainty as to 
the location of their villages, I would say, that while with each tribe the upper vil- 
lage may be beyond the boundary line, the lower villages are beyond question to the 
southward of it, and that, should it be decided that the upper villages belonged to 
one country and the lower to another, the situation of affairs would soon become very 
complicated. 

I give you this information with a view- to your taking such steps as may be in your 
power to prevent any collision between the various tribes, and thus co-operate with 
me in my endeavors, which have resulted in peace throughout Alaska, and an earnest 
desire for w r hite men to come to it. 
Yours truly, 

L. A. BEARDSLEE, 

Commander. 
J. W. Powell, Esq., 

Indian Commissioner. 

In anticipation of soon being relieved from the command of the 
Jamestown, I, early in September, included in my usual monthly re- 
port to the department, the following conclusions as to the condition 
of affairs in Southeastern Alaska : 

[Final dispatch of September, 1880.1 

I think that the period has arrived when it becomes my duty to report that in my 
judgment the permanent retention of a vessel of war at this place is no longer a ne- 
cessity. Such detention could only be required through a duty of protecting helpless 
whites from the assaults of dangerous Indians, neither of which conditions now exist. 

The able-bodied white men, capable of bearing arms, who have spent this summer 
at Sitka, have in numbers fully equaled the male Indians ; and assuming all of the 



7^ AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

Utter to bo dangerous, the whites should be fully capable of keeping theni under con- 
trol; but many of the Indians are not men from whom any danger need be antici- 
pated: there are manv sober and reliable men among them, who are friendly to the 
whites, and the division into '•families" is nearly a guarantee that mease of difficulty 
with one " family," the alliance with the whites of others could be depended upon. 

Nearly every white man in town gives employment in one way or another to one or 
more Indians, who, through motives of self interest and friendship, would adhere to 
them in ease of difficulties; and a great many of the white men keep Indian mis- 
tresses, who would be faithful to them, and would influence their male friends; the 
state of morals here being such that these women do not lose caste. 

I had been led to believe that incaseof troubles arising between the two raceshere, 
the unfriendly Indians of the inland waters would eagerly hasten to the aid of the 
Sitkans. While I still believe it likely that some would, I think from my knowledge 
of the coast tribes, gained during my trips north, that the danger has been greatly 
exaggerated : or, perhaps, it has been lately reduced through our influeuce. 

I know that among the Hoonahs, Kotzuoos, Chilkhats, Chilkoots, Stahkines, and 
Sticks, white men who behave themselves are living singly and in small parties, in 
apparent safety and on friendly terms ; and at Wrangell, where there are fewer whites 
and as many Indians, the presence of a vessel of war has not been necessary. 

All of the Indians are begging for protection and a government. 

On the other hand, I cannot admit that the whites are so helpless a body as to con- 
stantly need armed protection, or rather, that they need remain so, had they, as a 
mass, one particle of public spirit or pride. 

There have been throughout the summer enough white men to whip, if necessary, 
all of the Indians near Sitka, and as the number of the latter increases by the return 
of hunters and fishermen, so does that of the former, by the return of prospectors and 
miners. 

A great trouble is that the permanent white residents of Sitka will not combine for 
any purpose. '"Each man for himself" is their motto ; and their town becomes filthy i 
the wooden sidewalks rotten, limb-breaking traps; their bridges ruins; and their 
schools and church a failure, if unsupported by others: with no effort upon the part of 
more than two or three to prevent. Dance-houses, gambling hells, rum-selling saloons, 
and houses of prostitution exist on the mam street, and no man puts forth an effort 
against them. * * * 

This place and this country need a civil law and government which shall not too 
abruptly overturn the laws and customs which the Indians hold sacred. Such gov- 
erning power should need the support of a small armed steamer, which could, until 
the law was firmly established, patrol the water — this to be followed up by occasional 
visits of steamers of the North Pacific squadron. This ship is comparatively helpless, 
except to swell the gains of the traders. We can very easily subdue any fractious In- 
dians who might come within our reach, but we cannot reach, effectually, any others. 
Fortunately the moral influence has been considerable, and throughout Alaska the 
Indians respect and fear the Jamestown and yield to her commanding officer great def- 
erence. This, however, would cease should he. through error of judgment, permit 
to become excited among them a feeling of opposition. Should they once begin to 
defy us they would speedily discover how powerless the Jamestown would prove to in- 
flict thorough punishment. 

I would gladly exchange her for a tug of the Speedwell class, and feel that the 
country would gain by the change. 

The foregoing completes the consolidation of extracts from my dis- 
patches in regard to Indian affairs. 

Before closing this portion of the report it seems not out of place that 
1 should avail myself of information furnished to the department by 
my successor, Commander Glass, which bears upon subjects which have 
been discussed. Up to the latest dates, March, 1880. the Indians through- 
out Alaska have kept their promises to me, and have remained on har- 
monious terms with each other and with the whites. 

Shortly after my departure in September, 1879, Lieutenant Svmonds 

continued in the Favorite the system of survey begun bv Mr. Hanus 

Visiting the Chilkhat village he found that the promise of Klotz-Knteh 

to pay the demanded forfeit had been made good, and that peace was 

: nblished. 

Among the important results of this second trip in the Favorite was 
the hydrographic work embodied in chart and Hydrographic Xotice 98, 
and the locating of the Chilkhat villages, which 1 he finds are bevond 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 79 

doubt in the United States territory ; be also obtained a census of the 
Chilkbats and Chilkhoots, which shows that their numbers have been 
overestimated. 

The privileges granted to the miners of penetrating the country have 
resulted in the discovery of gold-bearing ledges and silver ore in va- 
rious places, which, it is thought, are of great value, and these discov- 
eries have attracted to Taku so many whites that a new town called 
Eockwell has been built, which will undoubtedly soon prove a flourish- 
ing settlement. 



PAET III. 



HYDROGRAPHIC 



S. Ex. 71 6 



81 






^m 



PART III. 



HYDEOGEAPHIC WOEK. 

Beginning in June, 1879, the entire summer and first part of autumn 
were devoted to a careful survey of Sitka Sound and its approaches. 

Our experience in entering had taught us that neither of the charts 
or sailing directions was reliable or correct, and it was considered advisa- 
ble to make an entirely new chart instead of attempting to correct the 
old one. 

A new base line, extending from the inner end of the wharf, directly 
up the main street,, to a spot exactly under the center of the dome of 
the Eussian Church, was measured, aud every day that the weather 
permitted was devoted to the work, which was performed with conspicu- 
ous zeal and ability by Lieut. L. M. Symonds, navigating officer, and 
Master G. C. Hanus, assisted at various times by nearly every available 
and capable officer of the ship ; and every boat of the ship, with Indian 
canoes in addition, were pressed into the service. 

The steam launches proved very valuable for this work, we running 
in them over 165 miles of soundings, during which over 5,000 casts were 
recorded and 902 angles observed. 

As information was obtained involving corrections to existing charts, 
reports were sent to the Bureau of Navigation which were incorporated 
in the Hvdrographic Notices and Notice to Mariners, Nos. 63, 6Q, and 
81 for 1879, and No. 5 for 1880, herewith appended. 

The first named, describing the accompanying chart of Symonds' 
Bay, on the island of Biorka, to survey which the survey of the sound 
was interrupted for a short period in August. The results of the sea- 
son's work are embodied in a complete chart of the sound, channel, 
and harbor of Sitka, which is the only one in existence which is at all 
correct. The chart is now being published by the United States Coast 
Survey, to whom it was transferred by the Bureau of Navigation. 
Among the important results were the discovery of several dangerous 
reefs, of uncharted islands, new hrrbors and channels, and the correc- 
tion of the position of nearly every one of the hundreds of islands and 
reefs which form a net-work in front of the harbor. 

Tidal observations we're taken and the establishment of the port rede- 
•termined, our results coinciding with those of the United States Coast 
Survey in this respect. I would here state that Prof. W. H. Ball, of 
the Coast Survey, who had made previously a short visit to Sitka, indi- 
cated to me, before leaving Washington, certain probable errors in the 
old charts, and that in every such case our results confirmed his views. 

1880. 

The hydrographic work for the summer of 1880 was confined to that 
performed by Master G. C. Hanus while on a trip through the inland 

83 



84 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

waters with me in the steamer Favorite, a portion of wliick is incorpo- 
rated in Hydrographic Notice So. 79 of 1880, hereto appended, and 
other portions in corrections to Chart No. 225, which is now being 
altered in accordance. 

After my being relieved by Commander Glass, the survey of the in- 
land waters, through the medium of the Favorite, was continued by 
him. and the results of a trip made by Lieut. F. M. Symonds are incor- 
porated in Hydrographic Notice No. 78, which, as it serves to explain 
certain portions of this report, is also appended. 

Mr. Symonds's work furnishes also other important corrections to 
Chart 225, which chart is the only one of use to a navigator in these in- 
land seas, and which had been laid aside as too erroneous for issue. 

The surveys of the Jamestown have restored its value, and a section 
of it. on which the correction made by the Jamestown are indicated in 
red ink, is hereto appended. This includes Glacier Bay, Tya Inlet and 
River, Chilkhat Lake, Taheen Eiver, and rocks off Cross Sound, called 
Hanus Eeef. 

A copy of this notice will be sent free of charge to any ship-master on application to 
this office. The substance of this notice is to he inserted in red ink on the charts 
affected by it. and introduced into the margin, or otherwisein the page, of the Sail- 
ing Directions to which it relates.) 

HYDROGRAPHIC NOTICE. 
[No. 63.] 

ALASKA — SITKA SOUND — BIORKA ISLAND. 

The following information, extracted from the report of Lieut. F. M. Symonds. U. 
8. N.. relating to Sitka Sound, &c, has been received from Commander L. A. Beards- ' 
lee, U. S. N.. commanding U. S. S. Jamestown : 

462. Biorka Island is about 5 miles in length, and its greatest width, north and 
south, about 2$ miles; it is densely covered with trees and tall grass, with some un- 
derbrush, but not as rank as that found at localities farther removed from the sea. 
There is a lake at the eastern end. the supposed outlet of which furnishes a place where 
vessels may easily obtain water by using boats. 

The western shore of Biorka Island is bluff and may safely be approached to within 
a distance of 250 yards. The channel between it and a rockv patch to the westward 
tar. (H. N. 63-79.) 

463. t 'antion.— The passage to the eastward of Biorka Island is foul, being studded 
with sunken rocks, and is therefore not recommended. 

On the i:orth side of Biorka Island, near its east side, is good anchorage in a bav 
lately surveyed by Lieut. F. M. Symonds, and Master G. C. Hanus. U. S. N., which 
Las been named Symonds Bay. (H. N. 63-79.) 

464. Symonds Bay.— Entrance Island.— Situated on the west side of the entrance to 
this Lay is a nearly circular rock, fifty (50) yards in diameter, and rises about 45 feet 
above high- water mark. It is entirely barren, and is an excellent mark for that side 
of the entrance. (H. N. 63-79.) 

465. Han us Island.— The eastern entrance point of Symonds Bav is covered with 
trees ou itg western side. 

Although in the directions for entering the bav it is recommended to give Ha- 
nus Island a berth of 200 yards, leaving it to port, yet it inav be approached to 
within a distance of seventy- live (75) yards. The distance stated in the directions 
being calculated to apply more particularly to night navigation when it is sufficiently 
to plainly make out Hanus Island. By day it is only necessary to avoid the kelp 
patches, rhe first kelp patch on entering is on the western side of the bav. and 

gerin the°bay ^^ ° Ver ** at l0W tide - This rock is the onl * dau " 

a tBlii&lu? % *?&£?* ^ping white beach, which can be seen quite 
466 Dirtctions.-With the exception of the rocky patch to the westward of Biorka 
tlf v ,t ll? 1 .°f"u " T S fmonds Bay are free from dangers. Entrance Island on 
the ,\ est side, and Hanus Island on the east side, mark distinctlv the harbor 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 85 

Approaching the entrance, avoid the kelp pateli to the north ward of Flanus Island, 
and give the island a berth of 200 yards to the westward, then head for the sand- 
beach, the center of which will bear about SSE. 

Anchor in seven (7) fathoms, avoiding the kelp on either shore of the harbor. 

Holding ground is good, ana anchorage sheltered against all winds, except those 
between WNW., and N. by £. (over north). NNW. blows directly into tin; bay. (H. 
N. 63-79.) 

Note. — Fresh water and wood in abundance. 

467. Rocky Cove. — This cove is situated on the south side of Biorka Island, but its 
entrance is closed by dangerous sunken rocks and small rocky islands ; its shores are 
covered with great quantities of drift-wood. (H. N. 63-79.) 

468. Sitka Harbor.— Entrance. — Lieutenant Symonds cautious vessels against using 
the western channel leading to Sitka Harbor, owing to the existence in that channel 
of two dangerous sunken rocks, of which further particulars will be published in a fu- 
ture notice. 

The eastern channel is wide and safe, and its entrance is well marked by James- 
town Beacon, No. 3. 

Corrected establishment, Sitka wharf XHh., 24 m. 

Mean rise and fall of tides 8.4 feet. 

Extreme ran^e of spring tides (same day) 10.4 feet. 

(H. N. 73-79.) 
This notice affects the following charts, &c: 
British Admiralty, Nos. 2683, 787, 2172, 2431, 2337, Sitka Sound. 

468. No. 2348, Sitka or New Arkhangel. 
U. S. Hydrographic Office, No. 527. 

Sailing directions : 

" Coast pilot of Alaska," Part I (17. S. C. S., 1869), page 116 (462 to 467 inclusive), 
page 118 (468). 

"Bering's Sea and Coast of Alaska," Findlay (1869), page 61. 

By order of the Bureau of Navigation. 

S. R. FRANKLIN, 

Captain U. S. X., Hydrographer to the Bureau. 
U. S. Hydrographic Office, 

Washington, D. C, October 11, 1879. 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation 28° 59' easterly in 1879.) 



{A copy of this notice will be sent free of charge to any ship-master on application to 
this office. The substance of this notice is to be inserted in red ink on the charts 
affected by it, and introduced into the margin, or otherwise in the page, of the Sail- 
ing Directions to which it relates.) 

HYDROGRAPHIC NOTICE. 

[No. 66.] 

The following information relating to the existence of a dangerous sunken rock near 
Mokhnatoi (wooded) island in the approaches to Sitka Harbor, derived from the report 
of Lieut. F. M. Symonds, U. S. N., has been received from Commander L. A. Beardslee, 
U. S. N., commanding U. S. S. Jamestown : 

NORTH PACIFIC — AMERICA, W. C— ALASKA. 

475. Sitka entrance. — Sunken rock. — A dangerous sunken rock with 9 feet over it at 
low water, on which the sea breaks during bad weather, lies SSW. | W., 465 yards 
from the east point of Wooded Island (Mokhnatoi). 

Note. — A rock near this position is marked on the Russian chart of 1809, but is not 
found on charts of a later date. 

Directions for the eastern channel. — After passing Vitskari Island stear NE. \ N., 
until East Beacon, which is on Eckholm Island, bears E. \ N., after which eastern 
channel may be entered with safety, keeping well on the south side of the channel in 
order to clear Simpson's shoal and Tzaritia rock. 

Caution. — Vessels drawing more than 21 feet must avoid a rocky patch lying E. by 



86 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

\ from Entrance Island by passing- within a distance of 300 yards of the eastern ex- 
tremity of that island : this patch is marked on all the charts of the locality. 
Sailing vessels working to windward must also avoid Zenobia Shoal, which lies 
v on the line between Knlitch and Liar rocks, and a two-fathom shoal which 
bean NE. by N.. about 2* miles from Vitskari Inland, the sunken rock near Wooded 
Island above referred to and four dangerous breakers lying westward of the rock and 
about NNE. J E. from Vitskari Island. 

Bearings magnetic. Variation 28 c 59' easterly in 18/9.) 
(Report of Lieut. P. M. Symonds, U. S. N., U. S. S. Jamestown, Sitka, October 

-'it.) 
This notice affects the following charts, &c. : 
British Admiralty, Nos. 2683, 787, 2172, 2431, 2337, Sitka Souud. 

No. 2349, Sitka or New Archangel. 
U. S. Hydrographic Office, No. 527. 
Sailing directions : 

" Coast Pilot of Alaska/' Part I (U. S. C. S., 1869), page 118. 

" Behring's Sea and the Coast of Alaska,'-' Findlay (1869), page 61. 

By order of the Bureau of Navigation. 

S. R. FRANKLIN, 
Captain, U. 8. X.. Hydrographer to the Bureau. 
U. S. HYDROGRArmc Office. 

Washington, D. C, November 10. 1879. 



(A copy of this notice will be sent, free of charge, to any ship-master on application to 
this office. The substance of this notice is to be inserted in red ink on the charts 
affected by it, and introduced into the margin, or otherwise in the page, of the Sail- 
ing Directions to which it relates.) 

HYDROGRAPHIC NOTICE. 

[No. 5.] 

ALASKA — SITKA HARBOR AND APPROACHES. 

The following information relating to Sitka Harbor and its approaches has been ex- 
tracted from the report of Lieutenant F. M. Symonds, L T . S. Navy, navigating officer 
U. S. S. Jamestown, Commander L. A. Beardslee, U. S. Navy, commanding, who has 
just completed a survey of the locality : 

36. — Sitka Sound. — To a vessel coming up Sitka Sound the islands about Sitka ap- 
pear as one confused mass, but they may be approached boldly until the beacon erected 
by the Jamestown on Beacon Group is made out, after which a vessel's position may 
be plotted accurately and the desired channel chosen without difficulty. 

36«. — Zenobia Bock. — This rock has only fifteen feet of water over it, and not IS feet, 
as previously reported, and as shown on existing charts. (H. N. 5-"80.) 

37.— Middle Channel. — Pritchard Shoals.— X reported dangerous shoal shown on all 
charts of the locality, covered by eight (8) feet and bearing north (easterly) from Pas- 
sage (Goloi) Island does not exist in, or near, the reported position, but is undoubt- 
edly an erroneous position of the western of Pritchard Shoals. (H. N. 5-'80.) 

38. — Mitchell and Bose Bocks. — These rocks are incorrectly placed on present charts. 
They lie near the fair-way and should be left to starboard in entering. The center of 
Turning (Povorotni) Island, bearing N. by E.. clears both, and leads through mid- 
channel between the western of Mitchell Shoals and a three-fathom spit extending 
ENE. about 309 yards from Volga Island. 

39. — A shoal lying nearly west from Passage Islands is of greater extent than here- 
tofore supposed, and narrows the channel between Passage Island and Surf Rocks 
(Bolivnoi Island) to about 250 yards, which renders its use unadvisable, even in fine 
weather. (H. N. 5-'80.) 

40.—Keene Bock.— The position of this rock as reported bv Lieutenant Craig. 1 
N., and published in Hydrographic Notice No. 35 (289). of 1879. is correct : but another 
rock, with only 14 feet water upon it, lies about 75 vards SE. bv S. from it. (H. N. 

41.— Western Channel— Bock.— A dangerous rock lies NNW.. about 340 yards from the 
northern extremity of Signal-light Island, and from the rock a shoal with from 9 to 
18 feet upon it extends N\V. about 130 yards. 

42.— Whiting Harbor.— This harbor, in which the holding ground is good, and excel- 
lent shelter found against northeasterly gales, is situated on the south side of Japan 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



87 



Island, or between the south shore of that island and the islands to the southward of 
it, viz, Survey Island and Lodge Group. (H. N. 5-'80.) 

43. — Beacons. — As previously reported, beacons have been constructed on Vitskari 
and Mokhnatoi (Wooded) Islands ; but in addition to these another beacon has been 
erected on Eckholm Island (Beacon Group), which is similar in size and construction 
to the one on Wooded Island, described in Notice to Mariners No. 81 (431), of 1879. 
(H. N. 5-'80.) 

44. — Kulitch Bock Breakers. — The western breaker of Kulitch Rock bears S. 7° W. 
from Wooded Island Beacon. (H. N. 5-'80.) 

NEW ISLANDS NAMED. 

45. — Jamestown Group. — This name is given to a group of islands (heretofore unnamed) 
the NW. extremity of which lies SW. by W. f W., about 870 yards from the NW. point 
of Thompson (Galankin or Sandy) Island, and extends thence in an E. -£ S. direction 
for a distance of about 340 yards. 

Jamestown Bay is situated on the south side of Jamestown Group. Fresh water 
may be obtained there, to facilitate which a small jettv has been built by the crew of 
the Jamestown. (H. N. 5-'80.) 

46. — BocJcwell Island. — This island, the center of which lies about N. \ W. 610 yards 
from the center of Wooded Island, is about 225 yards long on a line running NW. and 
SE. through the center of the island. It is wedge-shaped (when looking down upon 
it or from a bird's-eye view), the SE. extremity forming the point and its NW. side 
the base, which latter trends about N. by E. and S. by W. for a distance of 430 feet* 
(H. N. 5-'80.) 

47. — Survey Group. — This is a name given to an important group of islands lying 
about (I) one-quarter mile NE. by N. from Signal-light Island, and on the right of the 
entrance to Whiting Harbor. 

Several other islands of less importance have been named by the Jamestown sur- 
veying party, all of which will appear on the new charts when completed. (H. N. 
5-'80.) 

48. — Changes in the names of principal islands. 



New names. 



Beacon Group 

Belknap Island 

Liar Rock 

Thompson Island . . 
Beardslee Island. . . 

Survey Island 

Long Island 

Russian Island 

"Whalebone Island 

Luce Island 

Ship Island * 

White Island * 

Johnson Island* . . . 
Hawley Island*... 

Fasset Island * 

Entrance Island . . . 

Horney Island 

Gull Island 

Turning Island 

Ball Island 

Harbor Island 

Japan Island 



Name on U. S. Coast Survey 
charts. 



Ekgalit-tch 

Ekgalit-tch (Southern Island) 

False Bock 

Sandy Island 

Kaya'ktch Island 

Sas'edni Island 

Long Island 

Bamdorotchnoi 

Whalebone Island 

Emheleni 

Error Island 



Berry Island. 
Boidarka 



The Twins 

Rogova Island — 
Kukh-kan Island 
Turning Island.. 

Aleutski 

Harbor 

Japanese Island . 



Names on British Admiralty 
charts. 



Eckholm Islands. 

Eckholm (Southern Island). 

Liar Eock. 

Galankin Island. 

Kayaik Island. 

Dolgay Island. 
Bamdo-roshni. 
Quito way Island. 
Emgayten Island. 

Oshinpi. 



Kuch-kan Island. 
Povorotni. 
Aleyoutski. 
Gavanski Island. 
Taponskoi Island. 



* These five islands were formerly known, collectively, as a group, under the name of Boidarka 
Islands by the U. S. Coast Survey, and Kutchuma Islands by British Admiralty. (H. N. 5-'80.) 



49 — Tides. — Corrected establishment of the port, Xllh. 30m. 

Greatest diurnal range observed 14.70 feet. 

Average diurnal range observed 10. 16 feet. 

Greatest rise above plane of reference 12.20 feet. 

Average rise above plane of reference 8.92 feet. 

(H.N. 5-'80.) 

DIRECTIONS. FOR ENTERING. 

50. — Eastern channel. — The sailing directions for entering the Eastern channel, pub- 
lished in Hydrographic Notice No. 66 (475), are amended so as to read : After passing 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

Vitakari bland, steer NE. J N. until the beacon on Eckholm Island (Beacon Group) 
boars ENE., after which Eastern channel may be entered with safety. (H. N. 5-'80.) 

i,\— Middle channel— Thia channel is full of dangers, and the present charts are 
neither sufficiently accurate nor complete to indicate the route to follow in order to 
avoid them. It is therefore not recommended to strangers, but in case it is necessary 
to enter by this channel, the dangers in it will best be avoided by passing between 
Passage (Goloi) and Beardslee (Kayaktcb) Islands, instead of between Passage Island 
and Surf Kocks (Goloi and Bolivnoi Islands, ) or between Surf Rocks and Wooded Island 
(Bolivnoi and Mokhnatoi Islands), as indicated on the Admiralty charts. (H. N. 5-'80.) 

58. — Western channel — In navigating this channel care should betaken toavoid the 
shoal reported in Hydrographic Notice No. 66, of 1^79, as lying SSW. fW. 465 yards 
from the east point (SE. extremity) of Wooded Island, which latter is now distin- 
guished by a triangular pyramidal wooden beacon : and also the shoal already men- 
tioned as lying NNW., 300 yards from north extreme of Signal-light Island. (H.N. 
5->80. 

53.— Anchorage. — With regard to the anchorage at Sitka, Commander Beardslee re- 
marks that ordinary gales blowing from SE. and SW. outside are deflected to NE. 
and south, respectively, before reaching the inner anchorage. Very heavy SE. gales, 
however, are not deflected, but blow home with a force greater then is felt from any 
other direction. 

Occasionally a heavy NE. gale sends through the valleys, which traverse the island 
from Silver Bay, heavy squalls from ENE. 

For these reasons it is necessary to moor very securely, if it is contemplated to re- 
main during the winter or for any considerable length of time. 

54 — Moorings. — The Jamestown after several trials was eventually moored in the 
western harbor with her head about E. by S., abreast of the Indian village to the 
westward of Sitka town, with the eastern extremity of Harbor Island bearing SE. | S. 
and the east point of Japan Island SSW. f W: The ship was moored as follows : 

Starboard bower, with 75 fanthoms cable backed by 60 fathoms, the end of which 
was carried on shore and made fast to the big boulder on Harbor Island. (To the south- 
eastward.) 

Port bower, with 90 fathoms cable backed by 45 fathoms, the shore end of which was 
shackled into a Russian anchor fixed in the wharf. (To the eastward.) 

Starboard quarter — sheet anchor, wite 60 fathoms cable backed by 75 fathoms, one end 
of which was carried ashore and made fast to a big boulder on Japan Island. (To the 
westward.) 

Port quarters — sheet anchor, with 60 fathoms cable to the northwestward, from which 
direction tie mountains furnished a lee for the ship. 

55. Commander Beardslee recommends the above anchorage to vessels visiting the 
harbor with the intention of remaining for some time, and suggests as a necessary pro- 
vision against accidents that vessels be supplied with extra bowers, steam anchors 
and cables, because if any of these are lost they cannot be replaced in Sitka. 

The hull of a vessel anchored in this position is well shelteted from the heavy scpialls 
which rush through the gulch to the northward; inasmuch as they generally pass over 
the ship and strike the water some distance outside of her, the spars only catching 
the force of the squall, and for this reason it is well to send down all the upper spare 
when moored for some time. (H. N. 5-'60.) 

(Courses and bearing magnetic. Variation 29° 00' earterly in 1680.) 

(Report of Commander Beaerdslee and Lieutenant Svmonds, U. S. >T.. U. S. 8. James- 
town, Sitka, December, 20 and December 1, respectively, 1879.) 

This notice affects the following charts, &. : 

British Admiralty, Nos. 2337, Sitka Soune, and 2346. Sitka or New Arkhanoel. 

U. S. Hydrographic Office, No. 705. 

U. S. Coast Survey, Harbors of Alaska, No. 705. 

"Alaska Coast Pilot," Part I (U. S. C. S., 1669). page 116 (36), page 11- {36a, 41, 
42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 4©, 50 and 52), page 119 (37, 38, 39, 40. 51, 53, 54 and 55), 
page 120 (49). 

By order of the Bureau of Navigation. 

S. R. FRANKLIN. 
Capuain U. S. A\, Hydrographer to the Bureau. 

U. S. Hydkographic Office, 

Wahsington, D. C. January 30, 18-0. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 89 

(A copy of this notice will be sent, free of charge, to any ship-master on application 
to this office. The substance of this notice is to be inserted in red ink on the charts 
affected by it, and introduced into the margin, or otherwise in the page, of the Sail- 
ing Directions to^which it relates.) 

NOTICE TO MARINERS. 

[No. 81.] 
AMERICA, W. C— ALASKA— SITKA HARBOR. 

The following information, relating to the establishment of beacons on Vitskari and 
Mokhnatoi Islands, entrance to Sitka Harbor, constructed by the crew, of the U. S. 8. 
Jamestown, under the direction of Lieut. F. M. Symonds, U. 8. N.,has been received 
from Commander L. A. Beardslee, U. S. N., commanding U. S. 8. Jamestown. 

](430.) Beacon on Vitskari Island. (N. M. 81-'7P.) 

The beacon on Vitskari Island is a conical stone beacon, standing on a level surface 
of rock near the center of the island, 25 feet above high- water mark. It is 10 feet 
high, with a diameter of 20 feet at the base and 4 feet at the top. 

A log or staff projects five feet above the beacon, the former being capped by a large 
stone, the upper extremity of which is about 16 feet above the rock, and 41 feet above 
high water. 

At this altitude the beacou ought to be visible from an ordinary vessel's deck, on a 
clear day, a distance of about 11 miles. 

(431.) Beacon on Mokhnatoi Island. (N. M. 81-79. ) 

This beacon is constructed of heavy logs, in the form of a triangular pyramid, and 
situated on the summit of Mokhnatoi Island, at an elevation of 50 feet above the high- 
water mark. It is 19£ feet high, 20 feet wide at the base, and 2 feet wide at the top. 
Above the top of the beacon a staff projects 3| feet, which, like the beacon on Vitskari, 
is capped by a large stone, the whole rising 22£ feet above the island, and about 72|- 
feet above high-water mark. At this altitude, on a clear day, the beacon will proba- 
bly be visible from an ordinary vessel's deck a distance of about 15^ miles. 

From the Mokhnatoi Beacon the following bearings were taken : 

Vitskari Beacon S. 35° 45' W. 

Mt. Edgecombe •. S. 64° 30' W. 

St. Lazaria Island (SE. point) 8. 42° 30' W. 

KutichRock S. 2° 00' W. 

Biorka Island (N\V. point) J South. 

Bouranoff (Bouronov) point S. 31° 15' E. 

Rocky Hill N. 58° 15' E. 

Directions. — Entering Sitka Harbor in a sailing vessel with the wind from the north- 
westward, it is advisable to give the Mt. Edgecombe shore a wide berth, asunder the 
influence of that high land the wind is apt to fail and fall calm when the vessel is in 
the vicinity of Vitskari. 

Biorka Island should be given a berth of at least 2^ miles. 

In order to clear the sunken rocks to the westward of Biorka Island, keep the bea- 
con on Vitskari Island bearing eastward of N. ■£ E. ; or, in other words, do not bring 
the beacon to bear to the northward of N. | E. 

In entering the harbor leave the beacon on Vitskari to port £ mile, then steer for 
Mokhnatoi Beacon, leaving it on the starboard hand in passing into the western chan- 
nel. 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation 28° 59' easterly in 1879.) 

Reports of Commander Beardslee and Lieut. Symonds, July 10, 1879. 

This notice affects the following charts, &c. : 

British Admiralty, Nos. 2683, 787, 2172, 2431, 2337, Sitka Sound, &c, and 2348 Sitka 
or New Arkhangel. 

U. S. Hydrographic Office, No. 527, North Pacific Ocean, Sheet II. 
Sailing directions: 

"Coast Pilot of Alaska " (U. S. C. S., 1869), page 118. 

By order of the Bureau of Navigation. 

S. R. FRANKLIN, 
Captain, U. S. N., Hydrographer to the Bureau. 

U. S. Hydrographic Office, 

Washington, D. C, August 14, 1879. 



90 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

^A copy of this notice will be sent, free of charge, to any ship-master on application to 
this office. The substance of this notice is to be inserted in red ink on the charts 
affected by it, and introduced iuto the margin, or otherwise in the page, of the Sail- 
I Erections to which it relates.) 

HYDROGRAPHIC NOTICE. 

[No. 97 of 1880.] 

The following information in regard to the inside passages north of Sitka is fur- 
nished by Commander L. A. Beardslee, U. S. Navy, commanding the U. S. S. James- 
town. The reconnaissance was made by Master G. C. Hanus, of that vessel, during 
the present year: 

NORTH AMERICA— NORTHWEST COAST— ALASKA— NEVSKI STRAIT. 

919. — Whitestone Xarrows. — Directions. — If bound to the northward, when the rocky 
islet known as the Whitestone, which is uncovered at all stages of the tide, is in plain 
sight, stir for the passage to the right or eastward of it and head half-way between it 
and the shores of Barauoff (Baranov) Island. When near the rock, say at a distance 
of 100 yards, haul close in for the point on the eastern side of the passage and hug it 
until the cove just to the eastward is w T ell open. 

To the northwestward of Whitestone islet sunken rocks and kelp beds extend for a 
quarter of a mile. The kelp forms an excellent guide, but must be avoided throughout its 
entire extent, as there is a suuken rock with only two feet on it at low water, about 300 
yards to the westward of the Whitestone. Next avoid the sand spit at the mouth of 
a stream a short distance to the northward and westward of the cove, and when op- 
posite the northern and western end of the large kelp patch haul over for the center 
of the channel, giving the western shore the preference during the remainder of the 
passage through Nevski Strait. 

The flood-tide at Whitestone ledge runs to the southward and eastward and the ebb 
to the northward and westward. (H. N. 97-'80.) 

KLOKATCHEFF GULF (KLOKACHEVA SOUND). 

920. — Directions. — Wishing to enter the gulf from seaward, keep anywhere near the 
middle of the entrance, giving the preference to the north shore, and. steer in with- 
out fear until close up to the high bluffs on Baranoff Island, seeking anchorage in 
Whitestone narrows. All dangers on the northern shore of the gulf are exposed. This 
information was furnished by the Russian pilots. (H. N. 97-'80. ) 

POGIBSHI- CHANNEL, OR PERIL STRAIT. 

921.— Wyanda Rock:— The islet shown on B. A. Chart No. 2337 to the northward 
of Poroga Island, near the entrance to Suloia Bay, has a shoal of sunken rocks ex- 
tending from it to the northward for several hundred yards, and about one-third of a 
mileN. by E. from the islet there is a detached sunken rock which never uncovers, and 
which is known as Wyanda Rock, the revenue cutter of that name havino- struck 
pon it. 

Directions.— Between Wyanda Rock and a rock always out of water (off Lesnoi 
Island) there is a clear passage several hundred yards wide. From this latter rock 
detached sunken rocks extend SSE. into the channel for nearly two hundred yards. 

The strong tidal currents here cause rapids, the whirlpools and eddies of which 
render it all times a difficult passage, and vessels always wait for a favorable stage of 
tide to go through. 

After passing Deep Bay the best channel will be found inside of small islands, which 
are noted on the chart off the prominent point to the northward of Deep Bav ^his 
group consists of three wooded islands and a bare rock. Leave them all to the east- 
ward and pass between them and Tchitchagoff (Chichagov) Island. (H. N 97-80 ) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation 31 c easterly in 1880.) 

922— Rock.— The rock laid down on the chart just to the southward of this oroup of 
islands is not believed to exist, but there is a dangerous rock, which is out of water at 
extreme low tide, to the eastward of the bight oh the largest island. ( H N 97-80 ) 

MS.— -favorite Anchorage.— A good anchorage can be found close in under the shore of 
Baranoff Island, near Nismenna (Low) Point, about half a mile to the southward of 

vfpli? ( } h ^f\}» ] ^™ *? m 7 t0 W fotaoms of wat °r- The holding ground is 
excellent, the bottom being blue mud or clay 

hi Jh^ >>n!T2w afford % exce l ] ent shelter from SE. around to NNW.. the hills being 
mgh. Horn SW. around to NNW. the wind draws down the strait and through the 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 91 

inlets, making it a lee shore, but no heavy sea need he expected. To this harbor the 
name of Favorite Anchorage was given. 

There is also an anchorage, formerly much used by Russian vessels, in the bight 
shown on B. A. Chart No. 2337, to the northward and eastward of Nismenna, or Low 
Point. A vessel can anchor there in from 10 to 15 fathoms of water, bottom soft mud, 
and find good shelter in southerly gales. The holding ground, however, is not so good 
as at Favorite Anchorage. (H. N. 97-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation 31° easterly in 1880.) 

924. — Cozian Bock. — In getting under way from Favorite Anchorage bound to Chat- 
ham Strait a good channel, with 7 fathoms water, will be found between Otstoia Isl- 
and and Nismenua Point, keeping close to the island to avoid the sand spit which 
makes out from the point. A dangerous rock, which breaks in rough weather and 
which has not been heretofore located, was found, but having no tide-gauge it is im- 
possible to state the -exact depth of water on it. The probable depth is three feet at 
low water. 

Angles were taken to locate the exact position of this rock, but the points on the 
charts are so inaccurately laid down that it is difficult to plot it exactly, but it lies 
about N. by E. from the eastern end of Otstoia Island, distant from one-half to three- 
quarters of a mile. 

It is so near the middle of the channel heretofore given on the charts that several 
vessels have struck upon it. The Russian steamer Nicholas struck on it in 1854, and 
the schooner Nellie Eads and steamer Gussie Telfair both struck on it in 1875. By 
passing through the channel between Otstoia Island and Nismenna point all danger 
from this rock is avoided. 

This rock was called Cozian Rock, after the Russian pilot who reported it. (H. N. 
97-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation 31° easterly in 1880.) 

925. — HcClellan Bock. — Off the eastern point of the anchorage known on the charts 
as Lindenberg Bay there is a rock, covered at high water, not hitherto laid down. 
It bears S. by E. from the point, distant about one-fifth of a mile. There is a channel 
with 7 fathoms of water inside the rock. 

This rock was reported by Lieutenant McClellan, who sounded the passage on a 
trip to Chilcat in May, 1880, and it has been called McClellan Rock. (H. N. 97-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation 31° easterly in 1880.) 

CHATHAM STRAIT. 

926. — Point Graven. — The point of Tchitchagoff Island, at the junction of the 
waters of Peril Strait with those of Chatham Strait, isknown on the charts as Point 
Graven. Off this point there is a very large reef, marked on B. A. Chart No. 2337. 
This reef does not exist, but there are two rocky islets off the point, with deep water 
a few hundred yards outside of them. (H. N. 97-80.) 

927. — Morris Beef, so named by the Jamestown party, is a very dangerous reef, not 
on any chart. It makes out into Chatham Strait from one to one and a half miles in 
an E. by S. direction from the point on the northern side' of the entrance into a cove 
or inlet just to the northward of Point Graven. 

Off this point, to which the name of Point Hayes has been given, there is first a 
ledge of rocks, uncovered at low water, then a small wooded island, and then a reef 
of sunken rocks ; about a quarter of a mile from the island there is a rock always out 
of the water. The remainder of the reef consists of numerous detatched rocks with 
passages between them, many of the rocks showing at low water. 

About one mile northward of the point another reef of detached sunken rocks makes 
out from the shore and runs towards Morris reef. Russian pilots state that this point 
should not be approached closer than one and a half miles. (H. N. 97-80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 31° easterly in 18#0.) 

928. — Kootznahoo Boads and Koteosok Harbor. — Entering Koteosok Harbor from Kootz- 
nahoo Roads, from 4^ to 5 fathoms can be carried at low water. Two lines of sound- 
ings were run at this stage of the tide, and the greatest depth was shown to be 5 
fathoms. The shoal oft' Shelter Point runs further into the channel, and that off Bluff 
Point, at the mouth of Koteosok Creek, is not so extensive as formerly shown. The 
shore line of Koteosok Harbor runs further back than heretofore delineated, and a 
rock which uncovers at low water has been located. From this rock Shelter Point 
bears W. by N., distant two-thirds of a mile. 

A new trading post has been lately established at Koteosok Harbor. (H. N. 97-80. ) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation 31° easterly in 1880.) 

TENAKEE, OR SIWASH CANAL. 

929. — Description. — The information iu regard to this passage (which is navigable 
by canoes only) was received from Major Berry, formerly collector at Sitka, and his 
statements were fully confirmed by the Hoonah Indians. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

Four or live miles from Hoooah tbere is a portage of about one hundred and fifty 
.tops at high water and about thirty at low water.- The highest point of the portage 
bout fifteen feet above high-water mark. 

Tins passage is much used bv the Hoonah Indians. Halt-way up there are hot sul- 
phur sprrngs! and near these an Indian village. The arm of water opposite this Vol- 
taire extends in a southerly direction towards Hoonah Sound m Peril Straits, from 
which it is separated by high land, the distance from water to water being about nve 

IU 930 _ \iu-a nam's Harbor.— This harbor has apparently three entrances on the Cross 
Sound side but two of them are false, being obstructed by sunken rocks and sand 
bars. Outside of these there are sunken rocks extending off shore from a mile to a 
mile and a half; many of these rocks are uncovered at low water. «-..,-. 

The true entrance to this harbor is the one nearest to Point Couverdeu. Oft this 
point there is a small rocky islet, not hitherto charted, which bears about SE. by S. 
from Point Couverdeu. distant about one and a quarter miles. 

Directions.— To enter Swanson's Harbor by the eastern and only safe entrance, the 
course from the rocky islet, leaving it to northward, is about west. Oft the SE. point 
of Entrance Island* a reef and sunken rocks make off a quarter of a mile or more : after 
passing these, steer for the center of the inuer end of the harbor (about west), and 
Anchor 5 opposite the western entrance in from 8 to 10 fathoms water, soft, sticky bot- 
tom. (H. N. 97-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation 31° easterly in 1880.) 

931.— Point Couverdeu is on an island, and there is a passage between Swanson's Harbor 
and Lvnn Canal, but this was not examined owing to the short stay of the party. 

" Sitka Jack.' 7 an Indian chief, and several families of his tribe have a summer set- 
tlement here. (H. N. 97-'60.) 

CROSS SOUND, OR ICY STRAIT. 

g32—Spaskai Island.— This island, laid down on the charts SW. by W. of Point Cou- 
verden, distant 4£ miles, does not exist. It is probably intended to represent the small 
rocky islet near the eastern entrance to Swanson's Harbor, which is visible from the 
anchorage, bearing east, referred to in paragraph 930 as being SE. by S. from Point 
Couverdeu. (H. N. 97-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation 31° easterly in 1880.) 

933.— Sister Islands.— -The islands N. by E. £ E. from Point Sophia, distant from two 
and a half to three miles, are known as the Sister Islands. Off the southern end of 
the eastern island, at a distance of a quarter of a mile, there is a reef of rocks which 
uncovers at low water. (H. N. 97-80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation 31° easterly in 1880.) 

934. — Northern shore. — The Northern shore of Cross Sound is reported by pilots to be 
foul for a distance of from one to one and a half miles from shore, all the way from 
Point Couverdeu, twenty-two miles to the westward, to a large hitherto uncharted 
bay, to which the name of Glacier Bay was given. 

The Indians, however, report that there are several safe anchorages along this 
shore. (H. X. 97-'80.) 

935. — Beardslee Islets. — The point which appears on the charts in latitude 58° "24 N., 
longitude 135° 50' W., is undoubtedly intended to represent the southern point of a 
chain of islands which extends in a northwesterly direction up the center of Glacier 
Bay for about fifteen miles. As seen from Cross Sound they appear to divide the bay 
into two separate sheets of water. 

They are known as Beardslee Islets, and there aresaidto be hundreds of them, large 
and small, and, although they are called sand islands, many of them are high and 
covered with timber. 

It is reported that there are deep channels and safe anchorages among them. 

The southern point of these islands is not so far to the westward as represented on 
the charts. 

The group of islands southeast of Glacier Bay is known by the name of the P 
Islands. (H. N. 97-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 31- easterly in 1880.) 

936. — Port Frederick Harbor — Directions. — In running in from Cross Sound, coming 
from the eastward, after having passed point Sophia, a vessel can safely hug the shore 
of Tchitchagoff Island. At a distance of from two to three hundred yards from the 
shore no bottom could be obtained in 16 fathoms. Near the entrance to the harbor, 
a low, grassy island makes out from the shore, with a sand spit making off from the 
about one hundred yards, after which the water deepens suddenly. The point at the 
entrance to the harbor is a high bluff, the rocky walls of which are of a brownish-red 

*Professor Muir, who has explored this region, confirms the stateniect of Mr. Berry thar the: 
portage, hut places it much further from Hoonah. 
t The island forming theSE. side of the harbor. 



■i 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 93 

color. After this is passed keep in the middle of the channel between Harbor Island 
and the shore of Tehitchagoff Island, and anchor in about 8 fathoms of water, soft, 
muddy bottom, off the Indian village. The holding-ground is excellent. (H. N. 97-80..) 

937. — Halibut Rock. — A rock which uncovers at low water, and which is believed by 
the pilots to be much n arer the channel than it really is, was examined. This rock 
bears SSE. -J E. from the inner island on the western side of the entrance to Port Fred- 
erick Harbor, distant about two-thirds of a mile. This danger was given the name of 
Halibut Rock. (H. N. 97-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 31° easterly in 1880.) 

938. — Point Adolphus — Anchorage. — After passing Point Adolphus bound to the west- 
ward an anchorage can be found in the second bight, in from 7 to 15 fathoms, soft 
mud. The first bight to the westward of Point Adolphus is but a curve in the shore. 

The anchorage in the second bight is said to be secure in all except northwesterly 
winds. (H. N. 97-'S0. > ) 

939. — Rocks. — Opposite the inner part of the second bight there is a sunken rock 
about 150 yards from the shore, and off the point forming the western limit of this 
small bay and about two hundred yards from the shore there is a rock covered at high 
water. 

Pilots report that there is also a rock which uncovers at low water off the next point 
to the westward, and that its distance from shore is one-eighth of a mile. From this 
point the land makes away to the southward, forming a large bight, to which the 
name of Mud Bay was given. (H. N. 97-'80.) 

940. — Mua Bat/.— The southern shore of this bay has the appearance of an immense 
sand spit, stretching in a curve from the eastern to the western shore of the bay. 
Entering from the northward and eastward the western shore will appear like a group 
of islands. The shore of the point, which will appear to be the outer island, is marked 
by large masses of white quartz, which resemble ice. A small island (Goose Island) 
lies just to the southward of this point, and at low water a reef between them un- 
covers nearly its whole extent. 

There is an immense mud flat, with sounding varying from 4 to 7 fathoms water, 
about three-quarters of a mile to the eastward of the west shore of the bay. 

Six fathoms water, mud bottom, was found about three-quarters of a mile from 
Goose Island. 

The budding ground in Mud Bay is excellent. 

On the 18th and again on the 19th August, 1880, a number of small icebergs in Cross 
Sound were in sight from the anchorage. (N. H. 97-'80.) 

941. — Lemesurier Island — Willoughby Cove. — Lemesurier Island is the large island to- 
the westward of point Adolphus and to the northward and westward of Mud Bay. 
There are reefs off nearly all the points on the southeastern shore of this island. 

The deep bight on the southern shore is known as Willoughby Cove. 

A small sailing vessel or steamer can find an anchorage here in from 8 to 14 fathoms- 
water, muddy bottom. The holding-ground is excellent. 

The cove is open from SE. to NNE., and a very strong current sets by just outside, 
which creates strong eddies, bringing iceburgs in dangerous proximity to a vessel 
anchored too far out. 

These eddies set towards a large bite ju,st to the eastward of the cove, and on the 
19th of August, 1880, much drift-ice had been washed on shore there, while a number 
of good-sized icebergs had grounded some distance from the shore. Mud Bay was free 
from ice. It is said that ice never enters Willoughby Cove. (H. N. 97-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 31° easterly in 1880.) 

942. — Reef. — There is a dangerous reef off Iceberg Point, southern shore of Leme- 
surier Island, which uncovers for about a quarter of a mile from the shore at low 
water, and in rough weather it is said to break for at least another quarter of a mile 
further out. Lemesurier Island is moderatelv high and covered with timber. (H. N. 
97-'80.) 

GLACIER BAY. 

943. — Description and directions. — This large sheet of water, which has not heretofore 
been charted, lies northwest of Point Adolphus, and extends in a northwesterly direc- 
tion from the northern shore of Cross Sound. 

To enter this bay from Cross Sound bound to the westward, when about two miles 
from Lemesurier Island steer about WNW. until you enter the bay, and then steer 
about W. by N., or for Willoughby Island, a high island which lies near the southern 
shore of Glacier Bay and about twelve or thirteen miles from its entrance. 

In entering from seaward through the channel north of Lemesurier Island, when 
near the point where the waters of Cross Sound or Icy Strait unite with those of 
Glacier Bay, it will be necessary to give the northern shore of the former a wide berth, 
for at this point, which is low, a sand spit, not heretofore shown on the charts, makes 
out from the land about one and a half miles. 

Before entering Glacier Bay strong tidal currents or eddies will be encountered, 



94 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

especially to the northward and eastward of Leniesurier Island, and this part of Cross 
Sound is* exceedingly dangerous for sailing vessels, since there is much thick weather 
and even in August,' I860, there was much ice, in the form of large floes or small ice- 
bergs, coining down from Glacier Bay. The tide here runs at least three knots an 

ar Willoughby Island there is an inlet on the southwestern shore of the bay. It 
has two entrances, but only the one farthest up the bay was examined. 

Between the inlet and the bay, at this point, there is a bar about 100 yards wide, 
on the Bhoalest part of which there are 3£ fathoms at high-water, with deep water 
inside. 

Several miles up this inlet there is a fishing village of Hoonah Indians. 

Willoughby Island is said to be five or six miles long and from two to three miles 
wide. There is no timber in this section of the hay. From personal observation and 
from the information obtained from prospecting miners, Russian pilots, and Indians, 
a sketch of the bay was made. 

In running up to the inlet near Willoughby Island, from Cross Sound, numerous 
casts of the lead were taken, with no bottom at 16 fathoms, the vessel running along 
the southern shore of Glacier Bay at a distance of from three-quarters to one-and-a- 
half miles. 

Mr. Willoughby, a pioneer, who has explored the upper end of this bay, furnished 
the following information : 

There are five immense glaciers at the upper part. The first, on the southern shore 
of the bay nearest Willoughby Island, is about half a mile wide and 150 feet high. 
The next is about three-quarters of a mile wide and 200 feet high. The third, known 
among the Indians as the " Great Glacier," is situated at the head of the bay, and is 
about one mile and a half wide and from 200 to 300 feet high. The fourth, on the 
northern shore of the bay, is about half a mile wide and 150 feet high; and the fifth 
and smallest is about half a mile wide and 50 feet high. Most of the ice seen in this 
bay and in Cross Sound comes from two of these glaciers ; the sea washes under them, 
rots the ice, and pieces are constantly broken off. 

The information which follows in regard to Glacier Bay was obtained from Prof. 
Muir, a gentleman who had lately visited the locality : 

On the northern shore of Glacier Bay, north of Willoughby Island, there is a large 
inlet from three to four miles wide at its mouth. It runs to the northward and west- 
ward five miles, and at its head there is an immense glacier, which extends across the 
head of the inlet for a distance of about three miles. According to Prof. Muir this 
glacier is the grandest of all ; ten miles back from its snout it is ten miles wide, and 
near this, its greatest width, sixteen branches of the first class unite to form one im- 
mense glacier. Four of the sixteen branches are each over two miles wide, and nearly 
all have tributaries. 

The distance from the snout of the glacier to its farthest removed fountain is about 
forty miles. 

The five glaciers described by Willoughby, Prof. Muir judges to be about one and 
a half miles wide each, except the second,Vhich at its mouth is divided into two 
parts by a small island, each of the parts being about one mile and a half wide. 

At the head of the little bay just to the westward of Willoughby Island, Prof. Muir 
reports another glacier. He believes that many of these glaciers furnish icebergs. 
(H.N.97-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 31° easterly in 1880.) 

LYXN CAXAL. 

944.— Da7igerous reef.— Near the junction of the waters of Lynn Canal, Cross Sound, 
and Chatham Strait, there is a large reef covered at one-third flood tide. It lies three 
miles S. 58° E. from Point Couverden, and does not appear on any chart heretofore 
published. At low-water the highest part was seven or eight feet out of water. It 
consisted of a series of detached rocks extending at least a quarter of a mile to the 
eastward of the position occupied. 

A vessel must not approach this reef nearer than a mile, for a strono- two or three 
knot current sets right across it. 

The instruments used for determining its position were the sextant and the survey- 
or's compass, and the conditions for observing were very favorable. 

The position was obtained by laying all the angles down at the same time on a paper 
protractor and then plotting. According to this, Point Augusta cannot extend so far 
into Chatham Strait as previously represented, which confirms information obtained 
from pilots. 

Most of the compass bearings, though carefully taken, are of no use whatever in 
connection with the determination of this reef, nor can they be until the points ob- 
served upon are correctly located. (H. N. 97-'80.) 

'Bearings magnetic. Variation, 31° easterly in 1880.) 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 95 

945. — William Henry Bay, which is an excellent harbor, is situated on the western 
shore of Lynn Canal, to the northward of Point Grant. 

Directions. — Wishing to enter this harbor, keep from one-half to three-quarters of a 
mile from the western shore of Lynn Canal until abreast the eutrance. This is nec- 
essary, as otherwise it is very difficult to recognize the harbor. Strangers will be 
aided in finding it by noting that the highest mountain in this vicinity, which has a 
rounded, bald top, without trees, is just to the northward and westward of the en- 
trance. 

When the bay has opened well, head in for the inner part of the bay, keeping in 
the middle until you pass the point at the eastern side of the entrance, after which 
select a berth at pleasure in from 9 to 13 fathoms water, soft, muddy bottom. 

Supplies. — Wood and water can. be obtained here. (H. N. 97-80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 31° easterly in 1880.) 

946. — Ralston Island — Reef. — Captain Vanderbilt, of the NW. Trading Company's 
steamer Favorite, reports a reef out of water at half tide, about one mile NW. by N. 
of the small island just to the westward of Ralston Island. 

Coming down from William Henry Bay to go down Stephens Passage inside of Lin- 
coln Island, Captain Vanderbilt steered for Port Bridget in order to avoid this reef. 
He adds that at low-water the portion uncovered is fully a quarter of a mile long in 
a NW. by N. and SW. by S. direction. 

Ralston Island and the small island just to the westward of it are about one mile 
and a half further to the westward than previouslv shown on the charts. (H. N. 
97-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 31° easterly in 1880.) 

CHILCOOT INLET. 

947. — Portage Bay — Directions. — When abreast of Sullivan's Island haul over for the 
northeast shore of Lynn Canal, keeping about midway between it and the island, and 
afterward between it and Seduction Peninsula, until you open Portage Bay, where 
the NW. Trading Company have lately established a post. Keep about a quarter of 
a mile from the south shore of the bay and anchor near it in from 9 to 15 fathoms wa- 
ter, soft, muddy bottom. The water on the opposite shore is comparatively shoal and 
the holding-ground is not so good, the bottom being either of rock or sand. 

Opposite this bay and to the northward and eastward of it there is a large inlet into 
which the Tyya River empties. This inlet is said to be navigable for large vessels for 
a distance of fifteen miles, and the river for ten more by canoes. From ten to fifteen 
miles up the Chilcoot River there is a village of eleven large houses, this being the 
principal settlement of the Chilcoot tribe. Across Seduction Peninsula, between the 
lower Chilcat village and the trading-post, there is an excellent trail, which the In- 
dians use as a portage for their small canoes. (H. N. 97-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 31° easterly in 1880. ) 

CHILCAT INLET. 

948. — Pyramid Harbor is located on the southwest shore of Chilcat Inlet, and derives 
its name from a small pyramidal-shaped island about three-quarters of a mile distant, 
which bears about N. £ E. from the anchorage. This island can be readily recognized 
by its shape ; it is bare of trees, and is the only island above Ventosa Island. 

A short distance above Pyramid Island commence the flats and shoals which are 
formed by the quicksands of the Chilcat River. Although there may have been a channel 
for vessels of fifteen feet draught, as indicated on former charts, such is not believed 
by pilots to have been the case, and the ehannel which now exists is constantly chang- 
ing its depth and location, small boats finding it difficult to keep in the channel at 
times. 

In May, 1880, Lieut. McClellan searched ineffectually for several hours for a chan- 
nel suitable for a launch drawing about three feet. 

It is dangerous for any vessel to go beyond Pyramid Island without a local pilot. 

There is an Indian village four miles above Pyramid Harbor. 

Directions.— When abreast Seduction Point keep about in the middle of the inlet, 
giving the preference to the northeastern shore, as flats are said to make out from the 
opposite side. 

After passing Ventosa Island haul over for the western shore of the inlet, and you 
will be aided in recognizing the harbor not only by the little sand island known as 
Pyramid Island, but by the old bed of a glacier, which from the deck of a vessel will 
appear like a sand spit. This is just to the southward of the anchorage. 

Haul in for the bight and approach the shore boldly, anchoring in from 11 to 15 
fathoms, soft mud. 

The ho ding-ground is excellent. 



9() AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

On entering the harbor the high mountain which rises directly in rear of it, at an 
angle of about 35< ,will cause the shore to appear much nearer than it really is. (H. 
Is 97-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 31° easterly in 1880.) 

(Report of Master (4. C. Hanus. U. S. N., U. S. S. Jamestown, Sitka, Alaska, Sept. 1, 

1880.) 

This notice affects the following Charts, &c. : 

Hvdroeraphic Office, Nos. 527 and '225. Southeast Coast of Alaska. 

919 to 928 inclusive. 930. 931, 941, 942, 945, and 947.— No. 882, Auchorages and Pas- 
sages in the waters of the SW. Coast of -Alaska. 

Coast Survey, No. 701, Northwest Coast of America. . 

British Admiralty, Nos. 2683, 787, 2172, and 2431, Port Simpson to Cross Sound, in- 
cluding Koloschensk Archipelago. 

919 to 927/inclusive.— No. 2337, Sitka Sound. 
Sailing Directions : 

"Coast Pilot of Alaska," Part 1 (U. S. Coast Survey), 1869, page 122(919); page 
123 (920); page 124 (921): page 125 (922 to 925 inclusive); page 100 (926 
to 928 inclusive); page 104 (929 to 931 inclusive); pages 104 and 130 (932); 
pages 105 and 130 (933. 935 to 942 inclusive) ; pages 104 and 129 (934) ; page 104 
(943): pages 105 and 108 (944 to 946 inclusive); and page 108 (947 and 948). 

"North Pacific Directorv.'* 2d edition (A. G. Findlay), 1870 page 467 (919 to 925 
inclusive): pages 464 and 467 (926 and 927); page 464 (928); page 468 (929 to 
931 inclusive) ; pages 469 and 470 (932 and 933) ; page 470 ,(934 to 942 inclusive) ; 
page 471 (943); pages 464, 465, 466, 468, and 470 (944); and pages 465 and 466 
v945 to 948 inclusive). ]3l$9 

"Directorv for Behring's Sea and the Coast of Alaska" (A. G. Findlay), 1869. page 
60 (919 and 920>; page 45 (921 to 927 inclusive); page 47 (928 and 930 to 933 
inclusive); page 49 (929 and 934 to 943 inclusive); and page 42 (944 to 948 in- 
clusive). 

Bv order of the Bureau of Navigation : 

J. C. P. de KRAFFT, 
Captain, U. S. X., Hydrographer to the Bureau. 

U. S. Hydrographic Office, 

Washington, D. C, December 18, 1880. 



(A copy of this notice will be sent free of charge to any ship-master on application to 
this office. The substance of this notice is to be inserted in red ink on the charts 
affected by it, and introduced into the margin, or otherwise in the page, of the Sail- 
ing Directions to which it relates. ) 

HYDROGRAPHIC NOTICE. 

[No. 98 of 1880.] 

The information contained in the following notice is furnished by Commander 
Henry Glass, U. S. N., commanding U. S. S. Jamestown. The reconnaissauce and 
surveys were made by Lieut. F. M. Symonds, of that vessel, during September of the 
present year : 

NORTH AMERICA — NORTHWEST COAST — ALASKA — BARANOFF ISLAND. 

949. — Iiulna ( Fish) Bay — Shulze Cove. — (See sketch.) — Schulze Cove is about two and 
a half miles from the southern entrance to Peril Strait and is on the northern shore of 
Rubia (Fish) Bay. 

The entrance, as well as the cove itself, is free from all visible dangers. 

The Russian steamers formerly used this cove as a shelter from southeasterly gales, 
anchoring off the northern and western shore of Piper Island. In approaching that 
island avoid the sand spit extending from it to the northward and westward, andfjan- 
chor just to the northward and westward of the spit. 

The holding-ground is good. (H. N. 98-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 30° easterly in 1880.) 

CHICHAGOFF ISLAND— TENAKEE OR SIWASH CANAL. 

950.— Hoonah(Hoonyah) Harbor.— (See sketch.)— The general directions for approach- 
ing Entrance Point after passing Sophia Point will be found in Hvdrooraphic Notice, 
No. 97 (936) of 1880. * 



■■Mi 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 97 

To the northward and westward and close to Entrance Point there is a pinnacle- 
shaped rock forty feet in height, which has upon it a few stunted hemlock trees. 
Within fifteen yards to the westward of it there are 6 fathoms of* water, and in the 
small bight E. by N. from it there is a perpendicular wall of hare rock one hundred 
and fifty feet in height. 

Having brought Entrance Point to hear NE., enter the harbor and anchor, without 
fear of dangers, opposite the Indian village, avoiding too near an approach to the 
sand spit just to the easward of Entrance Point. 

The holding-ground is excellent, being sticky mud. The shores of this harbor are 
thickly covered with hemlock and rank vegetation and are high. 

To the eastward of Entrance Point the hills slope in either direclion, northward and 
westward and southward and eastward, from a height of about 300 feet to a height of 
about 150 feet at Entrance Point, and GO feet at about one mile to the southward and 
eastward of the village. 

Pitt Island is low and thickly covered with trees. 

Between Green Island and False Points is the entrance to a large bay, which has 
the appearance of a good, snug anchorage.- One line of soundings, showing plenty 
of water, was run across the entrance. (H. N. 98-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 30° easterly in 1880.) 

lynn canal.— (See chart.) 

951. — Point Conrerden. — The rocks to the northward and westward of this point, 
which were incorrectly placed on former charts, have been correctly located. (H. N. 
98-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 31° easterly in 1880.) 

951a. — The Sisters. — The relative position of these islands has been corrected, and a 
small island and a rock, not previously charted, discovered to the southward and west- 
ward of them. (H. N. 98-'80.) 

952. — Yanderbilt Reef. — Lieut. Symonds passed close to this reef, both on its eastern 
and western sides, at low water, and located it. He, however, recommends giving it 
a good berth to the northward.— (See Hvdrographic Notice, No. 97 (946) of 1880. ) (H. 
N. 98- ; 80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 31° easterly in 1880.) 

953. — Point WMdbey. — On the northern side and close to this point there are several 
islands not previously shown on the charts. (H. N. 98-80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 31° easterly in 18*0.) 

954. — Endicott River. — About three and three-quarter miles to the northward and 
westward of the entrance to William Henry Bay is a river to which the above name 
was given. Its mouth is filled with sand bars and the channel at the entrance is only 
about fifty feet in width. The river itself was not examined. (H. N. 98-'80.) 

favorite channel.— (See chart.) 

955. — Directions. — The course through this channel, as marked on the accompanying 
chart, is free from all dangers and cannot be mistaken. The chart is complete as far 
as regards all visible dangers at low water. 

Entering from tiie northward and westward, keep well over towards Point Bridget 
to clear Vanderbilt Reef until a SE. f S. course will take you through in mid-channel 
between Lincoln and Sentinel islands. 

The sunken rock laid down on the old charts near Shelter Island, in this channel, 
may exist, but Lieut. Symonds passed at low water very near, if not over its position, 
in a steamer drawing 11 feet of water. 

The channel was found to be clear until George Rock was reached. When passing 
to the eastward of this rock keep well over towards Spuhn Island after passing Point 
Louisa. A good anchorage mav be found in the neighborhood at Fritz Cove, Douglass 
Island. (See 957.) (H. N. 98-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 31° easterly in 18S0.) 

956. — Shelter and Portland Islands. — These islands were found to be incorrect, both 
in topography and position, on former charts, and were corrected as far as it was pos- 
sible in passing on either side of them. (H. N. 98-80.) 

DOUGLASS ISLAND. 

957. — Fritz Cove. — (See sketch.) — This cove is situated on the northwestern end of 
Douglas Island, in latitude 58° 19' N., longitude 134° 4?' W. 

On the western shore the land rises to a height of at least 1,500 feet, gradually slop- 
ing towards the center of the harbor to a height of 40 or 50 feet. The shore at the mid- 
dle of the cove is low, and just back of the beach it is marshy. Entrance Point is 
about seventy-five feet high, and is covered with trees. 

S. Ex. 71 7 



98 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

Directh»*.-ln approaching the cove, keep about 100 yards distant from the north- 
ern ami western shore of Don-lass Island until opposite the middle ol the entrance, and 
hen steer a 8SE. course to at anchorage, keeping at least 400 yards from Entrance 
Point Anchor in 12 fathoms water. The anchorage of the I ayonte (see sketch) was 
formerly that used by the Hudson Bay Company's steamers. The holding-ground is 
good, being sticky mud. . • n.,^ v 

1 Tides.— The rise and fail of the t ide observed was 14 feet. ( H. H . 98- 8U. ) 
i rings magnetic. Variation, 31 easterly in I860.) 

saginaw channel.— (See chart.) 

958 —Beef.— Saginaw Channel contains a dangerous reef of rocks, lying about three- 
fourths of a mile to the westward of the southeastern end of Shelter Island. This reef 
is not laid down on former charts and is the only hidden danger. 

Directions.— Coming from the westward, after passing the rocks off Barlow Point, 
Rockv Point will be seen extending well to the eastward and just covering the south- 
west "end of what appears to he an island, but which is a part of the point itself. 
Keep well over towards Rocky Point until the dangerous reef mentioned above is 
passed, after which the channel is clear. When off this reef, Portland Island is seen 
to the southward and eastward of it. (H. N. 98-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 31° easterly in 1880.) 

959._p j,^ Retreat— k reef extends W. by N. from this point about one-third of a 
mile. Point Retreat should be given a berth of half a mile in passing. (H. X. 98-80. ) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 31° easterly in 1880.) 

chilcat inlet and river.— (See chart.) 

960.— Portage.— The portage between Portage Bay and Chilcat Inlet is one and a 
half miles in length. The divide is low, with a gentle rise from the bay. On the 
eastern side the soil is a rich loam, adapted to the cultivation of grass and the hardier 
vegetables, and covered with evergreen trees and a deciduous growth of birch and 
eottonwood. Passing from the eastern side to the middle of the divide, the soil be- 
comes thin and marshy and necessarily colder, as it has not the southeastern exposure 
of the eastern slope. On the western side large patches of swamp grass, a bluish clay 
soil, and then granite mud were found. The mouth of the Chilcat River opposite this 
point is about five and a half miles wide. (H. N. 98- ; 80.) 

961. — Description. — Portage Point, where canoes were taken for Tondustek, the first 
Chilcat village, is about a mile to the southward and westward of the western end of 
the portage. 

The party embarked at half -flood. Snags and patches of sand were visible in many 
directions, "and it required, under sail, very careful handling to keep in even two feet 
of water. A careful examination of the mouth was made for quicksands, but none 
were discovered. Indians were observed on the sand flats in the center of the river 
spearing salmon, hut none of them had any knowledge of the existence of quicksands 
in the river. 

Tondustek is to the eastward of and close to Ranch Point. This village has sixteen 
houses and a population of 171 Indians. Two chiefs hold sway : the elder and head, 
Donawauk (Silver-gray), being about fifty years of age, and tall and noble-looking. 
with Caucasian features. Kacky, the other chief, is young and good-looking, being 
particularly notorious for his unscrupulous dealings and quarrelsome disposition. 

The village is on a wide, grassy, alluvial flat, having for its background a bold 
granite mountain, whose precipitous peak was streaked in a remarkable mauner by 
slides of bright slaty granite, sand aud gravel, while lower down were shrubs and 
bushes of bright yellow and crimson shades, deciduous growth, and woods of dark 
evergreen. The village was noticeably clean. 

After leaving this village a course was shaped up the river, and, although an oppos- 
ing current of at least four miles an hour was encountered, good progress was made, 
the breeze being fresh from the southward and eastward. 

The course from the village was S\V. Two miles from the village precipitous mount- 
ains, 2,000 feet in height, rose on either hand. The timber on the mountains gradu- 
ally changes, deciduous trees taking the place of the evergreens, and bushes replacing 
the larger trees, until, at about ten or fifteen miles from the mouth of the river, the 
mountain sides are brightly mottled with yellow and orange. On the southeastern 
side of the river the rugged aud serrated mountain crests, covered with snow, appear 
cheerless and uninviting. 

About five miles 8W. by S. from Tondustek, up the valley of a stream called Tak- 
heen (Hindmost River), is the Bertha glacier, resting on a southern mountain slope 
and reaching nearly to the surface of the river. It is precipitous in its descent and 
has a double snout, occasioned by a huge mass of rock near its medial moraine. The 
ice is very clear aud white. The mountains which feed this glacier are of the same 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 09 

group which supply the Davidson glacier and the many small glaciers which spring 
into view on the southwestern shore of Lynn Canal. 

At 1.45 p. m. September 27, 1880, Tondustek bearing NE., 7£ miles distant, the course 
was altered to west. Sand-bars just awash were continually met, and the average 
depth in the channel was only two feet. In altering the course Spuhu Point was 
rounded. The river at this point is one and a half miles in width. The flats opposite 
Spuhn Point extend out for nearly a mile from the southwestern bank of the river. 
The temperature of the water at this point was 46^ Fahr., the air being 53°. 

At 2.30 p. m. the canoe was off Vanderbilt Point, which bears west from Spuhn 
Point, distant 2-J miles. The general course was now WNW. 

Leaving Vanderbilt Point, the mud and sand flats, which fill the lower part of the 
river, were left behind, and numerous low flat islands were met with. These islands, 
•covered with alder, willows, birch, and cottonwood, inclose the shallow channels, 
while great stretches of barren gravel and sand flats, with sloughs and pools, fill the 
intervening spaces between the islands. 

The current is rapid and increases in proportion as the channel between the islands 
narrows, running at times five or six miles an hour. 

As the party progressed the average width of the river was one mile, and the gen- 
eral course was gradually altered to W. by X. 

At 6.30 p. m. the canoe reached Camp Point, which is half a mile SE. of Kutkwutlu 
(Gull's place) and sixteen and a half miles from the mouth of the river. 

On the morning of the 28th the course was continued up the river, and Kutkwutlu 
was soon reached. 

This village, the second from the river's mouth, is very dirty, and consists of eleven 
houses with a population of 125 Indians. There is no head chief at this place. 

From Camp Point the north bank of the river trends a little to the northward and 
then to the northward and westward to Chilcat Point, at the upper extremity of Kluk- 
quan village (Old town). 

The river is here two miles wide and is alive with salmon. The cliffs on the banks 
are about 2,000 feet in height. 

Klukquan, the main Chilcat village, bears W. by N. from Camp Point, distant 3 
miles. It contains sixty-five houses and a population of 558 Indians. 

From this village the voyage was continued up the Taheen (King Salmon) River, 
which was entered after rounding Chilcat Point. At 11.15 the party was off Glass 
Point, which bears WNW. $ W. from Chilcat Point, distant two and a half miles. 
Glass Point extends out nearly to the center of the river valley. The river is here twe 
miles in width and its general direction is WNW. 

At 12.20 p. m., Glass Point bearing S. by E., six miles distant, the trip up the river 
was discontinued at a point S. by E., a quarter of a mile from Jamestown Point. 

Nearly west of Klukquan village is a point on which is Chilcat Peak, 4,000 feet high. 
It is at this point that the Taheen, flowing from WNW., and the Kluheeny (Dog-sal- 
mon), from SW. by W., meet. No information could be obtained as to the source of 
the last-named river. The Taheen is the outlet of Kousouah (Long) Lake, which, 
from Indian reports, is about 30 miles from Klukquan. On the Taheen, fourteen miles 
from the lake, there are falls 60 feet in height. 

Into the Taheen, thirteen miles from Klukquan, empties the Kaatl River, flowing 
from the northward. This latter is a small river and is not navigable for canoes. 

About three miles south of Klukquan is Chilcat Lake, which extends about six miles 
NW. and SE. 

From every indication on the banks of the Chilcat River, Lieut. Symonds concludes 
that during the spring and summer freshets the river never rises more than two feet 
above its level in September, which rarelv exeeeds three feet in the deepest part of 
the main channel. (H. N. 98-'80.) 

(Bearings magnetic. Variation, 31 c easterly in 1880.) 

chilcoot inlet. — (See chart.) 

962. — Deyea River. — The Deyea River, the outlet of Chilcoot Lake, is small and shal- 
low and navigable only for canoes. The main village, called Tananei (Salmon Leaf), 
is at the junction of this river with the lake. It contains eight houses and has a popu- 
lation of 127 Indians. At the mouth of the river there is an Indian hunting village 
containing three houses. 

ENE. from the mouth of the river there is a small glacier, and E. by N. from the 
same point is the entrance to Tyya Inlet, which extends in a northerly direction to the 
mouth of a river of the same name. This river is navigable for canoes only. 

The northeastern side of Chilcoot Inlet is incorrectly placed on Commander Meade's 
chart, but want of time prevented Lieut. Symonds from obtaining sufficiently reliable 
data to place it correctly. 

The loftiest mountain peak, just to the southward of Tyya Inlet, was found by 
barometric measurement to be 3,700 feet high. 



100 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

There is reported to be plenty of water and good holding-ground in Tyya Inlet, to 
the mouth of Tvva River, but no harbor. 

A mid-channel course up either Chilcat or Chilcoot Inlet shows that both are in error 
at least one point, as they trend that much more to the westward than shown on the 
charts. (H. N. 98-'80.) 

( Bearings magnetic. Variation. 31° easterly in 1880.) 

CHILCAT, CHILCOOT, AND INTERIOR TRIBES. 

963. — i), acription. — These tribes are all of the general classification group of Thlinkits. 

The whole region possessed by them is called Kunana, and its inhabitants Kunaani. 
One group of tribes, called Alitsch (which is their word for "people"), consists of six 
small tribes, viz : Tagesh (living nearest the coast), Kluhtane, Netlatsin, Tahtlin, 
Klukha, and Tahho. 

To the northward of this group is another group. Their name for people is Tinteh, 
which gives the name to this group of four tribes. 

There also appears to be a tribe, or group of tribes, bearing the name Tenneh. 

The above information was obtained from old Chilcat and Chilcoot traders, who 
visit the northern inland country yearly to trade with the interior tribes. 

These interior tribes, especially the Alitsch, receive their goods from the traders, 
who cross the divide, passing first over the mountains to the Tyya Eiver, then ascend- 
ing it to the glacial region, crossing from thence by a gap, and descending on the north- 
ern side into the bleak, soft, bush region. They barter with the Indians for their furs, 
and being in possession of the market values, the trade is a remarkably lucrative one 
to the traders. They look upon these interior tribes as tributary to them, and prevent 
them from visiting the coast by stories of the dangers of the route and by threats of 
violence. 

The Northwest Trading Company rendered Lieut. Symonds valuable assistance in 
the prosecution of his work. It has established a trading post at Portage Bay, Chil- 
coot Inlet, and the Presbyterian Mission has taken steps for the immediate construc- 
tion of a mission school and church near the same place. (H. X. 98-'80.) 

(Reports of Lieut. F. M. Svmonds, U. S. N., Sitka. Alaska, October and November. 
1880.) 

This notice affects the following Charts, <fcc. : 
Hydrographic Office : 

949 to 962, inclusive. — Nos. 527 and 225, southeast coast of Alaska. 
Coast Survey : 

949 to 962. inclusive.— No. 701, Northwest Coast of America, Sheet II. 
British Admiralty : 

949 to 96-2, inclusive.— Nos. 2172, 787, and 2431, Port Simpson to Cross Sound. &c. 

949.— No. 2337, America, Northwest Coast, Sitka Sound. 
Sailing Directions, &c. : 

" Directory for Behriug's Sea and Coast of Alaska " (A. G. Findlav), 1869, page 44 
(949) ; page 45 (950) ; page 47 (951) ; page 42 (951a to 959, inclusive) ; page 43 (960 
to 963, inclusive). 

"Coast Pilot of Alaska," Part First (U. S. Coast Survey, 1869), pages 105 and 130 
(949, 950, and 951a) ; pages 105 and 108 (951, 952, and 954) : pages 106 and 108 
(955, 956, and 958); page 106 (953) (957); page 105 (959): and page 108 (960 to 
962, inclusive). 

North Pacific Directory, 2d edition (A. G. Findlav). 1870, page 467 (949 and 950) ; 
page 468 (951): page 465 (951a to 954, inclusive. 956 and 958 to 963, inclusive); 
pages 465 and 466 (955) ; and page 469 (957). 

By order of the Bureau of Navigation : 

J. C. P. de KRAFFT, 

TT _ TT ^ Captain, U. S. X.. Hydrographer to the Bureau. 

U. S. Hydrographic Office, 

Washington, D. C, December 29, 1880. 



137° 



Lil 




i "' '■■ r j s i. as i> ' i 

SEN. EX. DOC. No. .//...., 1st SESS., 47th CONG. » " ~ < > $g£ . 

■'• fe " 1 '''>WV-~-- 



^(^Y^ V ^ < PRICE IO CENTS 




- 



Wo76M. 



SYMONDS BAY 

SITKA SOUND 

ALASKA 

Surveyed in 1879 under the direction of 

odoi-e W.D. WHITING U.S.N chief o 

BUREAU OF NAVIGATION 

NAVY DEPARTMENT 

by the Officers of the U.S.Ship Ja 

Conidr. L.A.Beardslee U. S.N. comdg. 

Lieut.F.M.Symonds U.S.N. 

MasUraC.Hajo.ua U.S.N. 

Published by the 

U. S. COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 

CARLILE P.PATTERSON SUP".' 




SEN. EX. DOC. No..../// ., 1st SESS,, 47th CONG 



3 



/i 




SEN. EX. DOC. No. // , 1st SESS., 47th CONG. 



?■* 



I-,J.„ ■■•■ 111 



RpcoimaisHunces 
in the Waters on tile ,«- , 

S.W. COAST or ALAS',„^ 




SEN. MIS. OOC. No. // . hi SESS.. 47ih CONG. 




SEN. EX. DOC. No. // ., 1st SESS., 47th CONG. 



. 



PAET IV 



CLIMATE AND METEOROLOGY, 



101 



PART IV. 
CLIMATE AND METEOROLOGY. 

"During the occupation of Sitka by the Russians, an observatory was 
established on Tapansky Island, where full and detailed records were 
obtained from many observations. These for a portion of the time, viz, 
from 1847 to 186*, have been condensed and arranged by the United 
States Coast Survey, and are published in the Alaska Coast Pilot, in 
which is given the mean and extremes of temperatures, rainfall, and 
proportions of various kinds of weather for twelve years. 

Also, their own observations for a part of 1867, and deductions from 
compilation of Luther's tables for the years 1828 aud 1829. 

Also, those of Kotzebue for a portion of 1824-'25. 

Our log-books supply additional data, which I have arranged upon a 
system somewhat different from that previously employed. 

In all published records the days are classified as " rainy," "cloudy," 
"fair," &c, and the number of each, for each month, season, and year, 
is given. 

In thus classifying, judgment has so frequently to be substituted for 
figures that it would be quite possible for several conscientious compilers 
to produce as many varying results from the original data. 

The climate of Sitka is very peculiar, and there are many days dur- 
ing which the variations from fair to cloudy, from clear to rain, and 
from fog to sunshine occur so frequently that it becomes to me impos- 
sible to classify with certainty such days under either head. The impres- 
sion produced by study of these tables is, that at Sitka rain prevails a 
very large proportion of the time, and that fogs and mist fill up nearly 
all of the remainder. 

Our experience in the Jamestown does not justify such conclusions 
as shown by the meteorological tables herewith submitted, which have 
been prepared upon this system. On each of the first eighteen pages is 
given the meteorological record for a month, each day in detail j and 
for a portion of the data, each day has been subdivided into three parts, 
of eight hours each : "first part," from 1 to 8 a. m., inclusive ; "middle 
part," 9 a. m. to 4 p. m., inclusive ; " latter part," 5 p. m. to midnight, 
inclusive. Upon each of these pages the direction and force of wind 
and the general character of the weather for each eight hours is given, 
also the maximum, minimum, and mean of the barometer and thermom- 
eter readings and other data, as per columns. 

Following these detail records are two pages, upon which the results 
obtained are condensed into months, seasons, and the year and half 
year of the record. 

Adopting as a unit the 8,784 hours which composed the first year, 
the number of hours during which the wind was from either quadrant, 
and its force, the hours of calm, rain, snow, fog, overcast and blue sky 
with passing clouds are expressed in percentages of the unit, also of the 
parts of the unit, covered by the separate seasons. Thus, by simple in- 
spection of these final pages, definite information as to the proportion 
of all kinds of weather can be obtained, as found during a single year. 

103 



101 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



The six months from June, 1880, to November, inclusive, have been 
arranged in the same manner, and furnish additional information, which, 
however, cannot be properly incorporated in the discussion of a year, and 
will therefore be referred to as furnishing evidence confirmatory or the 
opposite to conclusions derived from study of the data of the first year. 

The weather will be first analyzed. The first result of importance ob- 
tained from our data is that the generally received ideas in regard to the 
preponderance of rainy and foggy weather, and of snow, hail, and over- 
cast sky, at Sitka, are based upon facts differing greatly from ours. 

From the tables published in the Coast Pilot, the following is extracted, 
and comparisons made with results from our own observation : 

Comparison of the record obtained by the Jamestown, during 1879-'80, of the number of days 
in the year during which rain or snow fell, at intervals or continuously <fc, with the 
records compiled from Lutke's table for the years 1324-20. 



Jamestown's. 



Weather. 



- 

-- 









Continuous rain or snow . 
Rain or snow at intervals . 
N either 





— 


- X 


- Z 




J 


~ : 


- - 

- - 


days. . 


117 


IS 


9 


davs.. 


174 


226 


132 


days.. 


74 


125 


42 



365 



183 



Classified by months and seasons, the days of the varying weather as 
above, from June, 1879, to November, 1880, inclusive, were as follows: 

Rainy days, $c, by months. 





Month. 


Days of rain or snow. 


Davs on which 




Continuous. 


At inr 


neither fell. 


June 


1879. 


3 

i 





1 

1 


1 
1 
3 
3 
2 

1 


24 
16 

17 
24 

21 

14 
12 
15 

20 

23 




July 




August 


IS 


September 




October 




November 




December 


9 


January 


1880. 


- 


February 




lit 


March 




6 


April 




1. 


May 




17 


June 


15 
6 


August 


8 


September 

October 


11 


November 


- 






- 




24 




167 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



105 



From the tables submitted herewith the followiiig analysis is repro 
<luced. Arranging the various kinds of weather experienced by us dur- 
ing the first year, in precedence, we have : 

Per cent of time. 

No. 1. Overcast, 4,265 hours 48.5 

No. 2. Blue sky and clouds, 4,152 hours 47.2 

No. 3. Rainy, 1,806 hours 20.5 

No. 4. Haze or mist, 1,077 hours 12. 2 

No. 5. Snow or hail, 835 hours 9. 5 

No. 6. Sundry, 350 hours 4.0 

Of which the entire period was covered by items 1, 2, and 6, the rain, 
snow, fog, &c, occurring during the hours marked " overcast," and a b. 
c. p.," or "b. c. m.," much of the misty weather being so marked. 

The slight preponderance of " overcast" over blue sky and clouds 
would be reversed, had we experienced three days less of the first; there- 
fore they are practically equal. And through the system adopted in 
marking the hours during which rain fell gives to the record figures 
which cause undoubtedly a slight over estimate to it at the expense of 
an under estimate of the u b. c." 

In many places the log shows "b. c. p." in the weather column, indi- 
cating blue sky with clouds and passing showers, and in some of these 
cases the proportion of sky clear is marked at from 2 to 5 tenths. All 
of these hours were classified with the rainy ones; in some cases, where 
it was manifestly just to do so, two of them have been counted as equal 
to one hour of rain. Had half of them been credited to each, the b. c. 
would have taken precedence of c. 

RAIN. 

Third in precedence comes rain. Although, as above stated, the hours 
of rainfall were probably somewhat less than those tabulated, the per- 
centage of time during which it fell, or during which precipitation of 
any kind took place, was unexpectedly small. 

The total hours and amount of rain, and hours during which it snowed 
and hailed, were, as grouped by seasons: 





Rain. 


Percent. 

13.6 
28 1 
26.9 
13.7 


Inches. 


Snow. 


Percent. 


Spring 


Hours. 
296 
622 
588 
300 


5.34 

18.71 
16.28 
16.01 


Hours. 

156 



76 

603 


7.0 








3.4 


Winter 


27.3 








1,806 


20.6 


56.34 


835 


9.5 


• 





The entire percentage of the time during which precipitation took 
place being 2,041 hours, or 30.1 per cent. 

During the subsequent six months, from Juue to November, 1880, in- 
clusive, there was no snow, but a greatly increased amount of rain in 
hours, percentage of time, and inches, as follows : 

Summer, 503 hours=26.8 per cent. = 18.71 inches. 

Autumn, 816 hours=3o\9 per cent. =19.24' inches. 

The number of days upon which rain or snow fell was, during the 
first year, 341 ; during the second half year, 141. 

No rain-gauge was provided for the ship, and the records for the above 
rainfall were obtained by means of one constructed on board the ship, 



106 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

which, although not as accurate as was desirable, probably gave close 

ai Tn°Se 1 ptember, 1880, an instrument was furnished, and the remarkable 
rainfall of the three months, September, October, and November, was 
measured by it; this, amounting to 49.24 inches, exceeded the average 
for the same season as obtained from fourteen years 1 observation by the 
Russians 18.36 inches. 

The November record of rainfall and hours of calm, are, ot the entire 
series of eighteen months, second only to that of June. 1879, as thus 
shown : . 

June, 1879. Hours of calm, 300; of ram, 298. 

November, 1880. Hours of calm, 255: of rain, 291. 

FOG AND MIST. 

The figures show this condition of the atmosphere to be fourth of the 
five phases classified, but if on each hour marked " m » or " f " a descrip- 
tion in detail had been given of the weather, its record would be greatly 
lowered. Generally these letters signified that the sky and mountain 
summits were obscured by the condensed vapor which hung over the 
latter, from the lower part of which there extended downward a gradu- 
ally lessening mist and haze, which a hundred feet above the horizon 
became invisible. 

I do not remember to have noticed at Sitka a single hour of fog 
dense as that which prevails for a very large proportion of the summer 
upon our Atlantic coast, and upon the Pacific coast, further south : and it 
seldom happened that the islands a mile away were hidden by fog. Our 
log- books show frequently the apparently contradictory symbols for the 
same hour " b. c. f." or "b. c. m." At such times the sky overhead and 
to seaward was clear, that over the mountains furnished the "f and 
" m." 

An invisible vapor, however, always surrounded us, as is indicated by 
the uniform slight difference between the records of the wet and dry bulb 
thermometers. This difference ranged from 1° to 4° except on one or 
two occasions, during very bright days. The mean of the difference for 
the entire time was about 2°. 

There existed a strange (to me) peculiarity about this moisture — it 
never penetrated apartments. We left our ports and windows open 
during all sorts of weather, and nothing ever molded or rusted. Our 
holds were kept sweet easily, and the mold fungus never took poe 
sion. Sheltered from direct contact by awnings, our men slept with 
impunity on deck, and during the hardest rains washed clothes hung 
under the awuings, would dry. 

During the summer there were many hours of fine drizzling rain, which 
more nearly resembled vapor than rain, and was commonly compared 
to the spray from an evaporator. This rain, although continuous for 
hours, hardly made an impression upon our rain-gauge, as shown by the 
contrast of the rainfall in summer and winter of 1879-SO. as measured by 
time and quantity; 622 hours of rain in summer averaging but little 
over one-half per hour of that produced by 300 hours in winter. 

SNOW. 

During the winter of 1879-80 the fall of snow was unprecedented. 
Ordinarily but little snow falls, and that is quickly melted and washed 
away by the rains. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 107 

During many preceding winters there had not been at one time on 
the level at Sitka over 5 or 6 inches, and that which fell on the high hills 
seldom exceeded 3 feet, and this was so far melted by June that pros- 
pecting and mining could then be started. 

With this winter, though, things were very different. From September 
until well into March suow-storms were frequent, and our records show a 
total of 835 hours, or nearly 35 days, of snow-storm. And on the level 
at Sitka it remained from 3 to 4 feet deep for over three months. And 
on the hills the snow was so deep and so lasting that all mining opera- 
tions were brought to a standstill in September, from which they did not 
recover until the summer of 1880. 

In August, 1879, I, on a trip over the mountains, encountered snow 
only in sheltered ravines, where it had probably accumulated for many 
years; the hillsides, especially on the southern slopes, being clothed 
with grass and flowers, and the terraces with ripe blue berries, on which 
countless flocks of ptarmigan wej?e feeding. 

In August, 1880, all of these spots were covered with deep snow, and 
on a trip to Chilkhat I observed that the hills upon the northern part 
of Baranoff Island were much more covered than were those a hundred 
miles north. This may be attributed to the much greater evaporation 
which is constantly taking place from the warm waters of the Kuro 
Siwo, which washes Baranoff, than that arisiug from the cold and par- 
tially fresh (on the surface) water of Lynn Canal, into which many 
streams from glaciers empty. Thi's fresh water was so distinctly sepa- 
rated from the salt, on which it rested, that we were able to water the 
steam launch at some distance from the mouth of the creeks at low tide. 
By carefully avoiding dipping our buckets over 1 inches we obtained 
fresh water; a little deeper we got brackish water; and at 6 inches depth 
water completely salt. The fresh surface was of a pale-green hue, and 
in it, with their back fins protruding, were quantities of salmon which, 
having spawned, had escaped thus far the ordinary fate, and stood a 
chance of getting again, into the salt water and recuperating. They 
swam about iu the most aimless manner, apparently blind, as they 
would strike against a boat with their heads instead of turning out or 
diving. 

TEMPERATURE. 

In the following table the means of temperature for the seasons, as 
obtained by our observations, are placed as an addenda to those ob- 
tained by the Russians and by the Coast Survey. 

This abstract shows that the winter of 1879-'80 was the coldest that 
has been experienced in Sitka for many years, and I have been in- 
formed that for the preceding fifty years the temperature at Sitka had 
been below zero but four times, and that the lowest record was — 4°. In 
January, 1880, it reached — 7°, and was below zero for over fifty hours 
during the first part of the month. 

During many winters preceding cattle have been able to obtain food 
throughout, and roses have been gathered from open-air gardens at 
Christmas, and potatoes and turnips buried a foot deep have been unin- 
jured by frost. 



30g AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

Mean of temperatures observed at Sitka for from twelve to fifteen years. 



Year. 



1850 
1851 
1852 
1853 
1854 
1855 
1856 
1857 
1858 
1859 
>1 860 
1861 
1862 
1867 
1879 
.1880 



Observer. 



Mean temperatures. 



Spring. Summer. Autumn. Winter. Tear. 





36.9 
43.8 


53.3 
56.2 


44.4 

47.8 


30.6 
31.3 


41.3 

45.8 


22 7 
24.1 


33.7 


. .do 


29.7 


do 


40.5 


55.4 


44.9 


32.6 


43.2 


22. 8 


33.0 


....do 


42.5 


52.4 


38.1 


34.8 


41.9 


17.6 




do 


40.6 


54.8 


46.0 


31.7 


42.9 


22. 4 


28.1 


do 


44.9 


53.4 


44.5 


32.8 


44.4 




24.1 


do 


43.2 


54.1 


46.2 


31.8 


43.7 






... ..do 


42.8 


53.7 


44.7 


28.2 


41.9 




26.7 


do 


40.4 


53.7 


40. U 
46.5 


32.6 


41.4 


21. 1 


-- 


do 


41.1 


55.3 


32. 9 


43.9 


22. 4 


-■ ■ 


do 


42.1 


55.8 


44.2 


30.7 


43.2 


25. 1 


33.5 


do 


38.1 


53.7 


43.5 


29.5 


41.2 


24.2 


' 






53.2 

















54.3 
53.8 


45.7 
48.0 


27.7 




do 


40.05 




age 


13 vears. 


15 vears. 


14 years. 


13 vears. 


12 years. 




av.l2vrs. 




41.3 


54.2 


44.6 


31.3 


42.9 


22. 6 





THE KURO SIWO. 

The dense forests which cover the coasts of southeastern Alaska, the 
agricultural resources which it possesses, the myriads of creatures which 
crowd its waters, the fog and mist and excessive rainfall which charac- 
terize its climate, and its freedom from extremes of either heat <>r cold, 
are due to the same source, namely, the great stream of warm water 
which fills its channels and bathes its coasts. 

It sel loin happens that observations can be made on the waters of this 
stream at extreme differences of temperature, but the cold winter of 
1879-'80 gave us the opportunity to contrast its temperature with that 
taken during warm weather. 

Our observations taken during the spring, summer, autumn, and 
winter, showed that with an extreme variation of temperature of the 



air of 83° (from 



to +75°) the temperature of the water alon 



varied but 13°, viz, from average 40° iu January to 53° in August of 

1880. 

During a very cold spell from January 1 to 17. 1880, of care 

ful observations was made by means of thermometers in the guardhouse 
on shore and on board of the ship, and it was found that oil shore the 
temperature was from 1° to 2° lower than on board, the shore instru- 
ment being protected from immediate contact with the vapor, to which 
that on board was exposed. 

During these seventeen days the thermometer on board averaged 1 1 
above zero ; that on shore was 13°. The instruments had previous to the 
experiment been carefully adjusted to a common standard. The ex- 
tremes of low temperature were —7° and + 30°: those of the water 
were from 33° to 42°, with a mean of 39°. 

The physical phenomena observed were very interesting. At all 
temperatures above 14° the rising vapor was invisible, hut undoubtedly 
helped swell a great black bank which throughout the winter months 
hung steadily over the southern horizon, while overhead and in all other 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



109 



directions the sky was almost entirely clear, and during the period of 
lowest temperature entirely so, and the sun's rays in the few hours of 
daylight and those of the stars throughout the night were remarkably 
brilliant. Xot a drop of rain or flake of snow fell or speck of mist vis- 
ible most of the time. At 13° a change began; we could see the rising 
vapor, which covered the surface with about a foot deep of fog. As the 
temperature lowered the density and height of this coverlid increased 
until at —7° it came up to our rails, and presented an appearance like 
dry steam or smoke. 

Occasional puffs of wind would cut channels through it, and send it 
whirling in wreaths. On the 7th January strong cold winds condensed 
this vapor into line particles of snow, not coarser than No. 8 shot, and 
these drove before the wind in sheets, while the sky above was clear, 
and no snow falling on the mountains. 

Our observations for surface temperature showed at times sudden 
changes, which at first seemed unaccountable, but by study it was found 
that the ice produced at low tide on the tide pools on adjacent flats be- 
came detached as the tide rose, and, floating in proximity to our instru- 
ments, affected their record. 

At 1 a. m. on the 18th of January a magnificent display of aurora 
borealis began . An illuminated arch, behind which most beautiful pyro- 
technical effects were produced, spread over the northern horizon, and 
continued until 4 a. in., when the black bank to the south sent upon a south- 
eastern wind an advance guard of mist, which soon obliterated the au- 
rora, and with a rising temperature the weather changed completely. A 
heavy damp snow, with flakes as large as a silver dollar, began, and was 
soon succeeded by very heavy rain, which, with occasional intermissions 
of snow and hail, lasted for six days. During this and subsequent dis- 
plays of the aurora we could not detect that any influence was exerted 
by it upon the compass. 

Twice again during the winter the advent of an aurora preceded a 
radical change from clear and cold to warm rainy weather. 

The means of the monthly temperature of the water alongside were as 
follows, those of the air being repeated for ready contrast : 

Monthly mean of temperatures of air and surface water compared. ' 





Temperature 
of air. 


Temperature 
of water. 


January 


° 
20.6 
31.3 
31.3 
42.6 
47.8 
50.7 
55.1 
57.2 
54.5 
43.3 
39.3 
No record. 




o 
39 


February 


39 


March 


39.5 


April , 


42 


May 


46 5 


June 


48 


July 


49 


August 


50 


September 


51.5 


October 


48.9 


November 


44.4 


December 









No observations for bottom temperature were made, we not having suit- 
able instruments. On one occasionally the delicate thermometer belong- 
ing to the chronometer room walked, and showed at bottom 42°, the 
surface temperature being 40°. 



110 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

ELECTRICAL PHENOMENA. 

During latter part of spring, summer, and early fall, there were no 
electrical phenomena, the rains being entirely unaccompanied by thun- 
der and lightning. 

In October our first experience of this occurred during a very heavy 
hailstorm, and throughout the winter hailstorms were frequently so 
accompanied, the lightning ceasing as the hail turned to snow or rain. 
On several occasions very heavy thunder occurred without lightning. 
There were but few displays of aurora borealis, and they confined to 
the very cold period in J anuary. Zodiacal lights prevailed throughout 
winter. 

WINDS. — DIRECTION AND FORCE. 

The tabulated records of the direction and force of the winds experi- 
enced by us do not without explanation convey a complete idea as to 
their points. 

The records are of the winds that reached the Jamestown, and she was 
lying in a sheltered harbor, open only to winds from seaward, the char- 
acter of which was greatly altered before reaching us, by obstructing 
islands, and by deflection from high land which lay to the WW., X., and 
XNE. of us. 

From these directions only the light land breezes of summer, and strong 
squalls, which in winter forced their way through ravines, reached us. 

Our log records 3,282 hours of wind from the KE. quadrant, and but 
1,828 from the SE. quadrant ; it is more than probable that an observer 
stationed on Biorka Island or Cape Edgecomb would have found these 
proportions reversed. 

During the winter months it frequently happened that we were sub- 
jected to strong winds from EXE., while outside, as we could judge by 
every indication except cloud-drift, the wind was SE., and much stronger 
than we received it. No cloud-drift could be observed, as the sky was 
generally in such times uniformly overcast. 

WINDS. — FORCE. 

Our records show that during the first year the percentage of time of 
the various forces of wind was : Calm to gentle breezes, 80 per cent. ; 
moderate breezes to fresh, 18, and gales occurred during less than 2 per 
cent., and during the stormy months of autumn and winter nearly 75 per 
cent, of the time the force of wind did not exceed 3 per cent., the gales 
occupying about 3 J per cent., almost confined to winter months. 

Number of hours of calm during first, middle, and latter part of days, from June, 1879, to 

November, 1880, inclusive. 

-e 

3 

Mouth. ft 



1879. 

June 

July 

August 

Summer 

September j 

October 

November 

Autumn , 



107 
74 
81 


8 

23 


51 

38 
54 


200 
129 
158 


262 


82 


143 


487 


64 
15 


26 
20 
11 


61 
14 
9 


151 
51 
35 


96 


57 


84 


237 



AFFAIRS l\ ALASKA. 
Number of hours of calm, £c. — Continued. 



Ill 



Month 



1879. 


in 

fi 

23 


lit 
ti 
17 


20 M 
10 








Winter 




33 


44 






95 


17 
20 

10 


31 








Spring 


209 


47 


112 






600 


219 


1, 208 




1880. 


42 , 
66 | 
72 


4 

12 
18 


"'4 7" 




36 1 1 7 












180 

FT 
45 
75 


34 

35~ 

37 
80 










30 




ti") 147 




100 








133 


152 


195 








313 


186 


318 817 







LAND AND SEA BREEZE. 



Our method of tabulating the hours of calm, &e., by thirds of the 
day, brought to notice the fact that, beginning in March and ending in 
October (by our records), a regular land and sea breeze occurs in Sitka 
Harbor. 

Generally the day began with light airs and breezes off the land. 
which, during the early part, died away to calm, a light breeze spring- 
ing up about noon, generally from SSE. to SSW. which was ana in 
followed by a calm of shorter duration. 

In the following table these alternations of calm, light breeze, and 
calm are shown clearly. 

During the autumn and winter these alternations became irregular, and 
but few hours are marked calm. 

During the summer season the greater portion of the rain fell during 
these calm hours, the weather clearing up as the sun's rays in the morn- 
ing acquired strength enough to check the condensation by the snow- 
clad hills of the vapor which had accumulated. 

The log shows that the preponderance of calm hours in the first ami 
latter parts of the day would be greatly increased if to them were 
added their proportions of the light airs and breezes. 



112 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

The calm hours of the several months were as follows: 



First part. Middle part. Latter part. 



June 

July 

August 

September 

October 

November 

December , 

3 880. 

J anuary 

February 

Mareli 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August 

Septeiuber 

October 

November 

December 



GALES. 



107 
74 
81 
C4 
17 
15 
10 



16 
16 

31 
24 
39 
60 

33 

Co 

64 



Description of action of Kind and barometer during sixteen gales experienced 

at Sitka. 



August 14. — Easterly gale for ten hours. 

Began 1 a. m.$ bar. 29.75; wind E. 8; weather o. c. p. q.; 1 to 9 a. m., 
wind E. 8; bar. 29.75 to 29.65; weather o. c. p. q.; 10 p. in., wind SE. 
7; bar. began rising and at midnight stood 29.78; wind SE. -4: weather 
b. c. q. First fall of mercury at 11 p. m. 13th, 29.80 to 29.75: three 
hours' warning. 

September 12. — Moderate gale E. to SE.. seven hours. 

Began 3 a. m.; wind E. 7 ; bar. 29.82; weather o. c. q. r.; 6 a. m., wind 
EKE. 8; bar. 29.68; weather o. c. q. r.; 8 a. m., wind XE. 7: bar. 29.62; 
weather o. c. q. r. ; 10 a. in., wind SE. 7; bar. 29.66; weather o. c. q.j 
noon, wind SSE. 4; bar. 29.72; weather b. c. q.; noon to midnight, SSE. 
4 to 1; bar. 29.72 to .86; weather b. c. q. First fall of mercury at 9 p. m. 
11th, from 30.12 to 30.06; six hours" warning. 

October 7 and 8. — Moderate gale from EXE., seven hours, on 7th. 

Began 2 p.m.; wind ENE. 5 to 8; bar. 29.42: weather o. c. q. r. : 2 
to 6 p. m., wind ENE. 8; bar. fell to 29.03 : weather o. c. q. r. : at 9 p. m., 
wind SSW. 7 ; bar. rose to 29.14; weather o. c. q. r. ; at 10 p. m. wind SSW. 
5; bar. rose to 29.20; weather o.c.q.h.; midnight, wind SE. 4; bar. steady. 

Light squalls from SE. freshened at 1 a. m. to ESE. 7; bar. 29.20: 
weather o. c. q. r. h.; 4 a. m. SE. 8; bar. 29.20; weather o. c. q. r. h. : 6 
a. m. S. by W. 8; bar. 29.23; weather o. c. q.; 8 a. m. S. by W. 8; bar. 
29.32 ; weather o. c. q. r. ; noon SSW. 8 to 5 ; bar. 29.44 ; weather o. c. q. r. ; 
noon to midnight SW. 4 to 2; bar. 29.47 to .61; weather b. c. 

The shift to SSW. on the 7th occurred with a heavy squall, and 
simultaneously the mercury, as if released from a weight, sprung up 
eleven hundredths in less than five minutes, and then rose more slowly. 

On the 8th, the rise accompanying the S. by W. wind was very 
gradual. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 113 

The first fall of mercury preceding this blow was at 5 a. m. of 7th, from 
29.84 to 29.80; nine hours warning. 

October 22 and 23.— EXE. gale from 5 a. m. 22d to 3 p. m. 23d. 

22d, 5 a. m. wind ESE. 7; bar. 29.90; weather o. c. q.; 7 a. m., wiud 
E. 8; bar. 29.80; weather o. c. q. ; 7 to noon, wind E.8; bar. 28.80 to 28.75; 
weather o. c. p. q ; noon to 4 p. m. EXE. 8 ; bar 29.75 to 29.09 ; weather o. c. 
p. q. ; 4 p. m. to midnight XE. 8 ; bar. 29.60 to 29.42 ; weather o. c. q. 

23d, midnight to 4 a, m., E. 8 to 9; bar. 29.39 to 29.23 ; weather c. q.; 
4 to 6 a. m., E. 8 to 4 ; bar. 29.-0 to 29. 12 ; weather o. c.q.;6p. m., SE. 

7 to 3; bar. 29.12; weather o. e. q. ; 7 p. m., SE. 7 to 3: bar. 29.13; 
weather o. c. q. ; to midnight SE. 6 to 3 ; bar. 29.13 to 29.20; weather 
O. C. p. s. 

The first fall of mercury occurred at 1 a. in. 22d, from 30.17 to 30.07 
giving thus four hours warning. 

The rise of barometer, beginning with shift to SE., continued until 1 
a, m. 29th, when it stood 30.05, the general character of the weather 
having been fair, with varying winds; the fall was slow and gradual, 
with but few intervals of steadying until on November 1. 

November 1. — At noon, with bar. 29.60, a sharp gale from E. to XE. 
sprung up, during which the wind, weather. &c; was, noon, wind E. 6; 
bar. 29.60; weather o. c. p. q. s. h. e. ; noon to 4 E. 7 to 8 ; bar. 29.60 to 
29.54; weather, o.c. p. q. s. h. e. ; 4 to 8 XE. 8 to 5; bar. 29.54 to 29.59; 
weather o. c. q. d. : 8 to midnight XE. 5 to 2 ; bar. 29.60 to 67 ; weather 
o. c. d. 

In this instance a very short and not very severe gale was preceded 
by a steady bar. fall for nearly sixty hours, and for the first time the 
barometer began to rise with the wind still at XE., and no southerly 
wind followed for several days, which days, however, were generally 
fair aud pleasant, with barometer averaging above 30 inches. 

November 12 and 13. — Moderate gale from EXE. to XE., twelve hours. 

Began 8 p. m. 12th; wind EXE. 6; bar. 29.02 ; weather o. c. q.d. ; 9 p. 
m. E. 8 to 9 ; bar. 28.90 ; weather o. c. q. ; continuing till midnight, when 
bar. stood 28.71. 

From midnight to 4 EXE. 8 to 9 in squalls, following each other with 
great rapidity. Bar. steadily falling to 28.56. From 4 to 8 a. in., squalls 
strong, 8 to 9 from XE. Bar.^ steady at 28.54 to 28.50, vibratiug slightly ; 
the weather being overcast, with rain. At 8 a. m. the wind moderated 
to 6 from XE., and the weather cleared up to b. c, the barometer rising 
during the forenoon watch to 28.69. 

At 1 p. m., the wind was from east and light ; the barometer began 
to again fall, and at 2 was 28.62 ; the wind then shifted XE., and a rise 
of mercury began, it standing at midnight 29.82. 

The first fall of mercury preceding this gale was at 4 a. m. of 12th, 
sixteen hours in advance, when it fell from 29.56 to 29.36 in eight hours, 
and by 8 p. m. had reached 29.02. 

December 10 and 11. — EXE. gale from 1 p. m. 10th to 10 a. m. 11th. 
From 1 to 4 p. m. 10th. wind E^ E. 6 to 8 ; bar. 29.75 to 29.50 ; weather 
o. c. q. s. ; 4 to 8, wind EXE. 8 ; bar. 29.50 to 29.35 ; weather o. c. q. s. ; 

8 to midnight, Wind EXE. 8 ; bar. 29.35 to 29.31 ; Aveather o. c. q. s. p. 
11th.— Midnight to 4 a. in., EXE. 8.; bar. 29.33 to 29.34; weather, o. 

c. q. s. p. ; 4 to 8 a. m., EXE. 8 ; bar. steady ; 8 to noon, EXE. 8 to 5 ; bar. 
29.36 to 29.43; weather o. c. p. q.; noon to 4 p. m., SE. to SSE. 8 to 3; 
bar. 29.43 to 29.67 ; weather o. c. q. r. 

The rise of barometer continued throughout 12th, with light, variable 
air and overcast. 

On 13th the rise continued from 29.70 to 29.82; at noon was 29.93; at 

S. Ex. 71 8 



114 AFFAIRS IX ALASKA. 

midnight the weather being fair and pleasant, but frequently overcast. 
and a heavy sea outside. 

From midnight it began to fall, and at noon of 14th it stood 29.45. 

The wind having freshened to a gale during forenoon of 14th. 

■December 14 and 15. — Hard gale from SE. to S. by YV. 

Began 1 a. m. 14th, wind SE. 6; bar. 29.63; weather o. c. q. r. h.; 
from 3 to 11 a. m., wind SE. 7 to 8; bar. 29.61 to 29.45; weather o. c. 
q. r. h. 

At noon 14th, wind S. by AY". 7; bar. rising, 29.46; 1 to 4 p. m., wind 
SSW. to SE. 7 to 6 ; bar. rising, 29.48 to 29.50 ; 4 to 8 p. m., wind SSW. 
to SSE. 7 to 5; bar. 29.50 to 29.54 ; 8 to midnight, wind SW. to NE. 5 to 
3; bar. 29.54 to 29.59. 

15^.-1 to 8 a. m., wind XXE. 3 to 8; bar. 29.60 to*29.75; weather 
o. c. q. s. ; 8 a. in. till midnight, wind NXE. 3 to 5 ; bar. 29.75 to 30.09 ; 
weather b. c. q., with occasional snow. 

This gale was followed by a very high barometer, with clear cold 
weather, for ten days, the mean of daily observation being from 30.02 
to 30.29, the maximum being reached on the 18th, when, with light XE. 
winds and temperature of 29°, it reached 30.65. 

During this period there were a number of fresh squalls from the 
NNE., which, by their effect upon the snow on the tops of the mount- 
ains, evidenced very strong winds, from which the land protected us. 

On December 26 the force of the squalls from X. to XXE. was from 8 
to 9, with bright clear cold weather, the snow on the hill tops flying in 
dense banks. 

During these squalls the barometer rose from 29.63 at 1 a. m. to 29.70 
at noon, 29.95 at midnight, when tbe wind shifted suddenly in a strong 
squall to SW., which lasted for half an hour, when the wind went back 
to X. and moderated rapidly, the record for 27th being: 1 a. in., wind X. 
4; bar. 30.00; weather b. q.; noon, wind XE. 1; bar., 30.14; weather 
b. c.j midnight, wind ENE. 2; bar. 30.08; weather o. c, and on two 
occasions to 8. 

The barometer was rather steady, the extreme ranges for the period 
being from 29.16 to 30.05. 

On the 2d January the NE. squalls freshened to 8 at 11 p. m. and so 
continued till 1 p. m. of the 3d, with intervals of more moderate wind, 
the weather throughout being bright and clear. 

These fresh squalls were preceded bv a slight rise of the barometer, 
which, at 1 a. m. of 1st January, stood 29.18; at 1 a. in. of 2d. 29.22 : at 
noon 2d, 29.31; at 11 p. in., when the wind freshened, 29.40. 

Coincident with the first strong squall the mercury began to fall, and 
continued to fall slowly during the squally weather to 29.22 at noon of 
2d, beginning to rise as the breeze moderated, which rise was continu- 
ous for several days until on 11th, when the weather began to grow 
overcast, with snow, and the barometer to fall, and continued so to do. 

January. — During the first seventeen days of the month there occurred 
a period of low temperature, unprecedented in the meteorological his- 
tory of Sitka. 

The thermometer ranged from 7° to +30°, with a general mean of 
14o.3; the daily means being 18°.7, 6°.4, 5°.9, 0°.5, — 3°.3, — 0°.3, + 0-.9. 
1°.6, 13°.3, 12°.l, 17°, 22c, 27-. 25°.3, 30°, 23°.l, 21^.5. 

The weather was, with slight interruptions, caused by a few suow- 
squalls on 1st, 3d, 4th, and 11th, remarkably bright and clear. 

On the 13th snow began falling with overcast sky, and from this date 
until the end of the month, but one day was free from snow storms. 

The wind was for the first half of the month almost constantly from 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA.. 115 

northward and eastward, occasionally from northward and westward; 
not once from the southern quadrant. 

The force was generally light, but freshening occasionally to squalls 
of 7 throughout 12th, 13th, and 14th, as follows: 11th, 1 p. m. 30.01, mid- 
night 29.87, weather b. c; 13th, 1 p. m. 29.87, midnight 29.51, weather 
b. c; 14th, 1 p. m. 29.25, noon 29.02, midnight 28.88, weather, first part 
b. c, middle part o. c. s., latter part o. c. s. Light NE. winds through- 
out. 

January 15. — At 1 a. in., after several hours of calm which had suc- 
ceeded the light NE. breeze which had prevailed for several days, a 
strong breeze with snow came up in a squall from SSE. shifting to 
SS W. ; weather o. c. q. s. 

This squall was followed by an hour's light air from ENE., and at 
4 a. m. by sharp squall from S., and from 5 a. m. till noon the wind varied 
from S. to SW. in rapid succession of squalls of force 8, accompanied by 
hail and snow. At 10 a. m. the wind settled into a fresh SSW. gale, 
which continued until 6 p. m., weather overcast with snow and hail; from 
6 to midnight the wind died away at south. 

During this storm the barometer rose and fell as follows: 1a.m., 
wind SSE. 6; bar. 28.91 ; weather o. c. q. s. ; 4 a. m., wind S. 6; bar. 
28.94; weather o. c. q. s. ; 8 a. m., wind SSW. 8; bar. 29.02; weather 

b. c. q. p. h. ; noon, wind SSW. 8 ; bar. 29.18; weather b. c. q.p. h. ; 2 
p. m., wind SSW. 8 ; bar. 29.16; weather b. c. q. s. ; 4 p. m., wind SSW. 8 ; 
bar. 29.12; weather b. c. q. s. ; 5 p. m., wind SSW. 8; bar. 29.35; weather 
o. c. q.h. s. ; 8p.m., wind SSW. 5; bar. 29.36 ; weather b. c. q. s.; 10 p. m., 
wind S. 5; bar. 29.40; weather o. c. s. ; midnight,. wind SSE. 5; bar. 
29.38 ; weather o. c. s. 

During 16th. — 1 a. in. to noon, light, variable breezes from northward 
and eastward; clearing weather; bar. 29.38 to 29.30. Noon to midnight, 
wind light and variable, weather bright and clear, and barometer rising 
rapidly from 29.30 to 29.60, the rise continuing through the 17th from 
29.64 to 29.91. 

On the 18th of January the barometer stood at 1 a. m. at 29.84, and 
began falling, with wind and weather as follows: Bar., noon, 29.85— .47 ; 
wind NE. to SE. 2; weather o. c. s. ; noon to midnight, 29.53— .24; wind 
E. to ESE. 2 to 7; weather o. c. q. r. s. 

19th.—l a. m. to noon, wind SE. to ENE. 1 to 5 ; bar. 29.35 to 29.18 ; 
weather o. c. r. ; noon to midnight, wind ENE. 1, and calm ; bar. 29.13 to 

OQ QO . wpat'hPT' O O T* s 

'20th.— I a. m. to noon, wind ENE. 1 ; bar. 29.34 to 29.58 ; weather o. 

c. d. ; noon to 9 p. m., wind E. 4 to 6 ; bar. 29.57 to 29.44 ; 10 p. m. to 
midnight, wind SE. 4; bar. 29.44 steady. 

21st— 1 a. m. to 4 a. m. wind ENE. 4 to 6 ; bar. 29.45 to 29.34 ; weather 
o. c. q. d. ; 4 to noon, wind ENE. 6 to 5 ; bar. 29.34 to 28.94; weather o. c. 
q. d.; noon to 6 p. m., wind E. 5 to 2 ; bar. 28.88 to 28.72; 7 p. m., wind 
SW. 8 ; in a sudden squall barometer jumped from 28.72 to 28.90 in a few 
minutes, and in less than an hour reached 29.08 at 8 p. m. ; 9 p. 111., 
21st, wind SSW. 8; bar., 29.29; weather, o. c. q. r. s. h.; 10 p. in., 21st, 
wind WSW. 8 ; bar. 29.38; weather o. c. q. r. s. h.; midnight A\ . 2; bar. 
29.44; weather o. c. . 

This furnished the third marked coincidence of a shift to S VV . in a 
heavy squall, being accompanied by a remarkably rapid rise of the bar- 
ometer. 

For several subsequent days the wind alternated from southward and 
westward, and northward and eastward, and upon each change the bar- 
ometer rose with the southwest and fell with the northeast wind. 



116 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

February 11. — A moderate gale from 1 a. m. to midnight from ESE., S.to 
SSW., 7 to 8. 

The action of the wind, barometer, &e., was : 1 a. m., 11th, wind ESE. 
5; bar. 29.61; weather o. c. q. s. ; 4 a. m., wind SE. 7; bar. 29.33; 
weather o. c. q. s. ; 7 a. m., wind SE. 8 ; bar. 29.23 ; weather o. c. q. s. ; 
8 a. m., wind S. 7 ; bar. 29.23 ; weather o. c. q. s. ; 10 a. m., wind 
SSW. 7; bar. 29.26; weather b. c. q. s. h. ; noon, wind SSW. 7 to 
8 ; bar. 29.28 ; weather, b. c. q. ; noon to midnight, wind SSW. 8 to 7 ; 
bar. 29.28 ; weather b. c. q. h. s. 

12^.— Midnight to 4 a. ni., wind SSW. 7 to 6 ; bar. 29.34 to 29.36. 

The first fall of mercury preceding this blow was observed at 9 p. m. or 
10, from 29.82 to 29.78 ; four hours' warning. 

March 4. — A fresh blow with squalls of 7 to 8 from ENE. began at 
2 a. m. and lasted but three hours ; in this case our warning by barome- 
ter preceded the squalls by twenty -two hours, it beginning to fall at 4 
a. m. of the 3d from 29.78 to 29.68 at noon, 29.61 at 4 p. in., 29.55 at 8 p. 
m., 29.48 at midnight. At 2 a.m., beginning of severe squalls, 29.43; at 
5 a. m., ending of same, 29.39, where it remained steady, with overcast 
weather and light 1STE. winds, until 2 p. m., when the wind shifted ESE. 
light, weather cleared, and barometer began rising. 

March 18 and 19. — A moderate gale from SE. with squalls of 8 from 
E. to S., barometer rising steadily throughout, as follows : 

18th, 10 p. m., wind E. 7 ; bar. 29.77 ; weather o. c. q. r. : midnight, 
wind SE. 8; bar. 29.77 ; weather o. c. q. r. 

19th, 2 a. m., wind S. 7 to 8 ; bar. 29.80 ; weather o. c. q. r. s. : 4 a. m. r 
wind S. 7 to 5 ; bar. 29.80 ; weather o. c. q. r. s. h. 1. ; noon, wind 
SE. 6; bar. 29.88; weather b. c. p. q. h. : noon to midnight, SE. 7 
to 3. ; bar. 29.88 to 30.01 ; weather o. c. q. h. r. 

The first fall of barometer preceding occurred at 1 p. m., from 30.05 
to 30.02; weather, b. c. ; wind ESE. 4. 

April 5 and 6. — April 5 from 6 to 10 a. in., fresh XE. squalls. 

7 to 8, preceded and followed by fresh breeze from same direction; 
weather o. c. q. ; barometer began falling at 8. p. m., 4 from 29.81 to 29.77 
at midnight; and at 6. a. m , 29.71 ; at 10, 29.69, and began rising, till 
at midnight it stood 29.80 ; weather o. c. p. q. 

April 6, barometer began falling at 1 a. m., from 29.80 to 29.78 ; wind 
EKE. 5. At 10 a. m. wind NE. 7 ; bar. 29.59 : weather o. c. q. r. ; noon, 
wind NE. 8 ; bar. 29.53 ; weather o. c. q. r. ; 1 and 2 p.m., wind E. 9 : bar. 
29.54 to 29.60; weather o. c. q. r. ; 4 p. m., wind ESE. 5: bar. 29.70; 
weather b. c. q., p. h. ; 8 p. m., wind ESE. 8 ; bar. 29.77 : weather b. c. q. ; 

8 to midnight; wind ESE. 8 to 3; bar. 29.77 to 29.85 : weather b. c. q. 
September 5, 1880.— Gale from ENE. to ESE. force 8 and 9, began: 4 

a. m. wind ENE. 8, bar. 29.57 ; weather o. c. p. q. r.; 8 a. m. wind 2s E. 8; 
bar. 29.39; weather o. c. p. q. r.; 9 to 11 a. m., wind EXE. 8: bar. 29.37 
to 2.31 ; weather o. c. p. q. r. ; noon, wind SSE. 9; bar. 29.37 : weather o. c. 
p. q. r.; noon to 4 p. m., wind ESE. 9; bar. 29.43 to 29.61; weather o. c. 
p. q. r. ; 4 to 8 p. m., wind ESE. 8 to 2 ; bar. 29.61 to 29.75 ; weather o. c. 
q.; 8 to noon calm; bar. 29.75, steady; weather o. c. 

Found fall of mercury at 4 p. m. 4th from 30.03 to 30.01 : at midnight 
29.87. 

October 10 and 11. — SE. gale from 6 p. m. 10th to 2 a. m. 11th : wind, 
barometer, &c, as follows: 

10th, 6 p. m. SE. 7; bar. 29.75; weather o. e. q. r.: 7 to midnight SE. 
8; bar. 29.75 to 29.57: weather o. c. q. r. 

11th, midnight to 2 a. m . SE. 9 ; bar. 29.55 to 29.52 : weather o. c q. r.: 2 to 
4 a. m. S. 7 to 5; bar. 29.53 to 29.60; weather o. c. q. r.: 4 to noon S. to 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 117 

SSW. 5 to 6 ; bar. 29.60 to 29.93 ; noon to mid. SSW. 5 to 3; bar. 29.94 to 
30.05; weather o. c. p. q. 

On the 26th of October, 1880, Sitka was visited by a hurricane, which 
was accompanied by heavy shocks of earthquake. 

This storm is so fully described in an able report by Lieut. F. M. Sy- 
monds that I do not consider it desirable to attempt to add to or take 
away from his account, which was submitted by Commander Glass to 
the ETavy Department. 

Tradition records but one storm at all approaching this in violence, 
namely, that occurring on October 26 and 27, 1867, during which the U. S. 
S. Ossipee narrowly escaped foundering, and many vessels in the harbor 
were driven on shore. 

In connection with the report of Lieutenant Symonds, the history of 
the storm in 1867, as obtained from the log-books of the Ossipee, which 
was outside, and of the Eesaca, which was anchored inside, will have in- 
creased value, and it is herewith submitted, also a copy of Lieutenant 
Symonds' report, and of the log-books of the Jamestown, and Eesaca, 
and Ossipee. 



118 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



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AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 119 

REPORT OF LIEUT. V. M. SYMONDS. 

U. S. 8. Jamestown, 3d Kate, 

Sitka, Alaska, October 27, 1880. 

Sir: I respectfully transmit to you the following report and accompanying chart 
descriptive of the hurricane experienced by us October 26, 1880, at this place 

We can trace the first indications of it back to the 23d instant, at 6 p. m., at which 
time the barometer stood at 29.65, and tbe wind was from the east (p. c. ). From this 
time the oscillations of the barometer with its steady downward tendency, The wind, 
and tbe clouds, tbe general direction of which was to northward, indicated distinctly 
the existence of an unusual and powerful atmospheric disturbance. 

The barometer feir steadily to 29.10 October 25, 5 a, m., then rose to 29.46 at 2 p. m. 
on the same day, from which hour it fell steadily and rapidly, bringing the full 
strength of the storm upon us in about fifteen hours" 

From 1 to 3 a. m. October 26, the mean rate of fall per hour of the barometer was 
.15, in considering which, the center of the hurricane can be placed at 50 miles distant 
atl a. m. The wind at that hour was (see chart) from the east (p. c). It continued 
to blow steadily, but with increased force, from the east (p. c.) until 9.15 a, m., when 
it shifted to ENE. (p. c), veering from that point to NE. (p. c.) during The hour. 
Force of wind at this time 9 to 11, blowing in heavy squalls. 

The next shift was at 11.15 a. m. to SE. (p. c.) placing the center SW. (p. c.) from 
us. At this time the storm was at its extreme height, blowing with a force from 11 
to 12 in heavy and violent squalls lasting trom five to eight minutes, heeling the ship 
from 8 To 10 degrees, and raising in this closely laud-locked anchorage a rough sea. 
Up to this time there had been a light fall of rain, but with the sudden and violent 
shifts of wind at 11.15 a. m. came snow-, and shortly after hail. The temperature 
which had stood at 53° F. fell suddenly to 44° F. with this shift of wind, and con- 
tinued to fall until 1 p.m., when it stood at 38 c F. At meridian the wind was still 
from S E. (p. c), but had slowly decreased in violence, and the squalls were less heavy 
and frequent. 

It continued from that direction with decreasing force until 6 p. in., when it shifted 
to SW. (p. c), which gave a bearing of NW. (p. c.) for its center. From that time 
until midnight, when its force was but 4, it veered from SSE. (p. c.) to SW. (p. c). 

From 4 to 10 p. m. we experienced snow and hail squalls, accompanied by vivid 
flashes of lightning and heavy peals of thunder. 

At 1.35 p. m. there were two shocks of an earthquake ; the first of at least eight 
seconds duration, and the second, two or three. On the 27th, 6 a. m., a light shock 
was felt ; also two in the evening at 9 h 10 m and at ll h 15 m . The one at 9 h 10 m p. m. 
was quite strong, but of very short duration. 

TRACK. 

At 1 a. m., 26th, the barometric changes place the center of storm 50 miles from the 
.ship, and bearing south (p. c), the wind then being from the east (p. c). At 9.15 a. 
m. the strength of wind increased to from 10 to 11, which would place The center 
about 11 miles distant from us. This is comparatively estimated with the assumed 
position of center at ll h 15 m a. m., when the wind hauled to SE. (p. c), and the force in- 
creased to from 11 to 12. As at 11.15 a. m. the strength of the wind and its sudden and 
violent veering would place us within the limif of the hurricane's most powerful efforts, 
and as at 10.35 a. m. the barometer reached its lowest point, 28.20, we can safely as- 
sume our then position to be a point removed not more than 6 miles from the center. 
I assume here a calm belt with a diameter of 10 miles. 

The rate of travel of the storm, deduced from positions at 9.15 a. m. and 11.15 a. m., 
is 5£ miles an hour. 

The wind, as before stated, veering from SSE. (p. c.) to SW. (p. c), from 4 p. m. to 
midnight, would give a general direction for the track, after clearing the coast line, 
of WNW. (p. c). (See chart. ) 

The great number of sea-fowls in our immediate Aicinity, noticeable when the hur- 
ricane was at its height, 11.15 a. in., would indicate our close proximity at that time to 
its center. 

GENERAL REMARKS. 

The track of the storm from the position of the center from 1 a. m. to ThaT at 9.15 
a. m. (see chart), would appear to require a gradual shift of wind from the east (p. c), 
which was its direction at 4 a. m., when the Genter bore south (p. c), to its position at 
9.15 a. m., when the center bore SSE. (p. c); but as the storm approached a continu- 
ous stretch of high land from the open sea, the right hand semi-circle, which infringed 
directly on the high lands, was naturally flattened by the same, thereby producing a 
wind steady in direction from the east (p. c.) from the oval-shaped side thus flattened. 



120 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

This same action would account for the shifting of the wind from ENE. (p. c.) to 
NE. (p. c), and vice versa from 9 h to 10 h a. m. 

It would appear from the rapid and regular rate of rise of the harometer after the 
shift of wind to SE. (p. c), that the storm increased its rate of motion, and that such 
is the fact I think can be easily demonstrated. We cannot help but assume the cor- 
rectness of the flattening process resulting from the storm infringing on the high 
lands; and we have strong evidence for so doing, not only from the fact that the wind 
failed to shift regularly in compliance with the usual laws of revolving storms, but 
from the fact that the wind did not extend to a great altitude, which was made appar- 
ent the following day by the well-defined line of destruction of the trees on the mount- 
ain sides, which line was less thau one thousand feet in elevation. Again, a flag 
placed by some of our officers on "PopoffPeak" remained intact, which in itself was 
proof conclusive. 

Now, let the wind be banked up, as it were, against the mountain sides when the 
center of storm was at the position at 9.15 a. m. (see chart), and its course was to the 
north (p. c); it, in its endeavor to pursue this course, could only work over in a 
northward and westward direction to its positiou at 11.15 a. m. (see chart) ; to which 
position the wind would have gradually veered to SE. (p. c.) had not the mountain 
intervened. 

This obstacle to its gradual veering permitted us to receive the first shift from the 
SE. (p. c.) after the storm center left its position at 9.15 a. in. (see chart), which shift, 
acting with the compressed air or banked wind of the right-hand semicircle, must 
have been a sufficient re-enforcement to force the storm to the southward and westward. 
The compressed air, or banked wind, of semicircle had a tendency to force the center 
south (p. c), and the SE. (p. c.) shift, acting in conjunction with this, to the westward 
of south; and as a resultant it takes a SW. (p. c.) course, shifting close around to the 
southward and eastward side of Mount Edgecomb until clear of it, then trending 
more to the westward as the resultant of the two forces would naturally urge it, after 
its departure from the position at 11.15 a. in., had its altitude permitted its passing 
directly over Mount Edgecomb. 

EARTHQUAKES. 

It may be important data for the scientific consideration of the relations which exist 
(if any do) between earthquakes and hurricaues. to mention that at the time of the 
occurrence of the shocks, 1.30 p. m., the center, from my deductions, must have been 
in close proximity to Mount Pklgecomb, an extinct volcano: and that the general 
direction from which the first shock appeared to approach, was south (p. c). 
Yerv respectfully, your obedient servant, 

F. M. SYMONDS. 
Lieutenant and Xavigator. 
Commander Henry Glass, U. S. N.. 

Commanding. 
Note. — I was informed by Mr. Ivan Petroff, who was at Kodiak during this storm, 
that it began at that place on the evening of the 26th October, and lasted for three 
days, the streugth of the gale being from NE. He did not observe the shifting of the 
wind. 

The schooner Oonalaka arrived at Kodiak during the gale completely incrusted 
with ice. 

HURRICANE OF OCTOBER 26. 27, AND 28, 1867. 

On the 26th of October, 1867, the U. S. S. Ossipee, Capt, Geo. F. 
Emmons, left Sitka Harbor at 5 p. m., and" at 11 p. m. was clear of the 
island, steering SE. by E. As she opened the passages she found a 
SE. breeze 5 to 6, and a " heavy sea rolling into the bay; weather 
squally with rain." During the same four hours, the Eesaca, lying in 
Sitka Harbor, had light airs and calms. 

The weather for preceding twenty hours having beeu partially over- 
cast, with showers of rain and hail, and light SE. winds, barometer 
rising slowly from 30.14 to 30.20 at noon, and then falling slowly to 30.10 
at midnight. 

October 27. — The Ossipee, running by her log on a SE. by E. course, 
with a steadily increasing SE. wind, encountered during the afternoon 
a hurricane, of which the direction was ESE., force from 10 to 12, she 
having logged by 7 p. m. 54 miles on SE. by E. course. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



L21 



away port- 



Several reasons indicate that in course and distance thus logged th 
is an error. 

First, the improbability of a ship making from 2J to 8 knots aln 
dead to windward, against a wind marked 9 and 10, and a sea bo he) 
as to be characterized in remarks as " terrific," and coming aboard at 
all points, doing great damage and nearly foundering the ship. 

In the remarks is noted, " 8 to meridian, heavy sea carried aw 
head and wheel rope." 

Meridian to 4 p. m., strong wind, SE. with sea from same direction. 

4 to 6 p. in., laboring heavily; heavy sea running; shipping a great 
many seas ; carried away port-quarter boat. 

6 to 8 p. in., carried away both bow boats and starboard waist-boat, 
and hatch-battens; ship laboring heavily ; shipping seas from all points; 
fire-room floor covered and fires nearly extinguished; magazine flooded; 
water a foot deep on wardroom floor ; and during all of this period the 
columns show "course SE. by E. 2J knots." 

The remarks justify the inference that the columns err, for "at 10 a. 
in. the ship was hauled off shore to SAV. by S., and fore and main try- 
sails set," which were subsequently replaced as they blew away by the 
fore and aft storm sails, which remained on her throughout, a sure proof 
that she could not have been going within a point of the wind. 

It is therefore fair to presume that from 10 a. m. till 7 p. m. she was 
running to the southward and westward, and that the four to six points 
of leeway recorded, about canceled the run of 54 miles. At 7 p. m. the 
wind shifted to ESE., and for five hours blew with a force of 12; sea 
very confused and heavy; the starboard waist-boat was carried away, 
and the starboard launch lifted by a sea, and throw r n inboard, the davits 
being broken off. The sea which effected this must have come from 
the northward and westward, and thus is indicated that the center at 
this hour, 11.30 p. in., had passed very close to the ship. 

Unfortunately, the record of the barometer is given only each two 
hours, and if correctly observed and recorded, it shows a remarkably 
slight disturbance of the mercury. 

The probable position of the ship when the center of the storm passed 
was about 25 miles SW. of Biorka Island, or about 40 miles from Sitka 
Harbor. The log of the U. S. S. Resaca, lying at anchor in the harbor, 
furnishes therefor valuable data. 

The action of the barometers on the two vessels was. on the 27th — 



Time. 



Barometer. Wind 



2 a. m ; 30. 10 

4a,m 30.10 

6a.m 30.10 

8a.m -- ' 30.08 

10a.m.... 30. 08 

Noon 30. 08 

2 p. m ,' 30. 08 

4p.m 30.06 

5 p. m 

6 p.m. 30. 04 

Sp.m 30.00 

10 p. m 29.69 

Midnight , 29.65 



Kesaca. 



Barometer. Wind. 



SE. 5 and 6 
SE. r> aud 6 
SE.5and6 
SE. 5 and 6 

SE. 6 1 
SE. 6 j 

SE. 7 

ESE. 9 
ESE. 10 

ESE. 12 



30.04 
30. 02 
29. 99 
29.96 
29. 94 
29.92 
29.85 
29.81 



( 29.58 ) 
< 29.52 } 
( 29.40 } 



E. 3 

e. i to a 

E. 1 to S 
E. 2 to S 
E. 3 to 5 

E. 1 to 5 

E. 2 to 5 
ESE. 4 to 9 

E. 4 to 10 



28^.— Just after midnight the wind with the Ossipee hauled SE. by 
S. 10, and barometer steadied, and at 2 a. m. to SSW. 10 and barometer 



122 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



began rising, the rise continuing with clearing weather and sea moder- 
ating; wind falling to 9 and 8. 

With the Resaca, the barometer continued to fall, the wind slightly 
increasing until 4 a. m. 

The barometer and wind of both vessels were as follows : 



Time 


Ossipee 




E 


esaca. 




Barometer. 


Wind. 


Barometer. 


Wind. 




29.65 
29.67 
29. • 
29. 75 
29.82 
29.90 
29.94 
29.98 
30.00 
30.02 
30.08 
30.06 


ssw. 

ssw. 
ssw. 
ssw. 

sw. 

sw. 

sw. 

sw. 

sw. 

sw. 
ssw. 
ssw. 


10 
8 
8 
8 

6 
4 
3 
3 
3 
3 
3 


29. 30 
29.22 
29.29 

29. 57 
29.69 
29.85 
29.91 
29.94 
29.99 
30.02 
30.01 

30. 03 


E. 7 to 9 




ESE. 7 to 9 


6 a. m 

8 a. m 

10 a. m 

Noon 


SSE. 4 to 10 

S. 4 to 6 

SSW. 4 to 7 

S.4to 7 

S. 2 to 7 


4 p. m 


SSE. 2 to 7 
SE. 2 to 5 


8 p. m 


ESE. 2 to 5 


10 p. m 

Midnight 


SE. 2 to 7 
SE. bv S. 2 to 9 



At 1 a. m. the Ossipee hauled up to SSE., and ran on this course 22 
miles till 10 a. m., the remarks being as follows : 

Until 4 a. m. deck flooded, all pumps working on bilge and not gain- 
ing, shipping a great many seas, ship laboring heavily, very heavy sea. 
heavy gale from southeast to south-southwest. At 10 she steered 
ERE. 12 miles, made the land, and then NXW. for 28 miles, when she 
reached the outer line of reefs, and at 7.45 p. m. anchored in Sitka 
Harbor. 

The log shows that from midnight to 8 a. m. a very heavy sea pre- 
vailed, many coming on board, and although all of the pumps were kept 
going, they did not keep the ship free. 

TKe discrepancies which are found in the log are undoubtedly due to 
the fact that every person capable of keeping a correct history of this 
storm had plenty of other work to attend to. 

The log of the Resaca shows that during -the 28th the effect of the 
gale in the harbor was very serious. At 4 a. m. the wind shifted in a 
terrific squall to southeast, the Russian steamer Constantine and ship 
Tzarovitch were driven ashore on Japonsky Island, and others dragged 
and collided. Working parties from the Resaca and Jamestown were 
kept busy saving the fleet, among which were the steamer John L. 
Stephens, the Russian vessels mentioned, and the Mameluke. The Steph- 
ens steamed through into the eastern harbor, where the holding ground 
is good, and rode out the gale safely with steam up. 

This storm was beyond doubt a cyclone, and in many respects its ac- 
tion was similar to that of the one experienced by the Jamestown in 
1880, and doubtless its course was almost identical. 

The description of the hurricane of October, 1880. as given by Lieu- 
tenant Symonds covers nearly all of the points observed in the other 
gales recorded; they having evidently the same course and general 
characteristics, lacking, however, in force. A repetition of the descrip- 
tions is therefore unnecessary. I have studied his thoroughly and can 
suggest no alterations. 

The data of the several storms reduced to the two elements of impor- 
tance, namely, shift of wind, duration and strength from each point, 
and action of barometer were as follows: 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. I2g 

Shift of wind and barometer action during fifteen revolving ttornu at Sitka. 




124 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

Barometric action. 



Date. 



Sept. 12 


1879. 


Oct. 7 


8 


22 ... 


Xov. 1 


12 


Dec. 10 


14 


26 . 




.1880. 


21 


Feb. 11 


Mar. 18 


Apr. 6 


Oct. 10 


26 



15 

None. 

4 

60 

16 

14 

33 

None. 

49 

30 

4 

9 

9 

15 

56 



o « 

IE <t 



T * 



** 



a ■- . 



30. 12 to 29. 62 i 
29. 84 to 29. 03 j 

29. 20 to 29. 61 
30. 17 to 29. 12 

30. 65 to 29. 54 

29. 56 to 28. 54 

30. 06 to 29. 31 
29. 94 to 29. 46 
29. 16 to 30. 05 

29. 55 to 28. 85 
29. 58 to 28. 84 

29. 82 to 29. 23 

30. 05 to 29. 77 

29. 80 to 29. 53 

30. 01 to 29. 31 
29. 65 to 28. 21 



.50 
.81 



1.05 


26 


1.11 


64 


1.12 


24 


.75 


15 


.48 


32 


.70 


30 


.74 


26 


.59 


10 


.28 


10 


. 27 


11 


.70 




1.44 


64 



SE. 

SSW. squall. 

SSW. mod. 

SE. 

XE. 

XE. 

EXE..SE. 

S. by W. 

XE. 



8 SSW. 

8 SW. 

8 SSW. 

8 S. 

9 ESE. 
9 SSE. 

12 SE. 



The action of the wind and of the barometer of the Jamestown was so 
influenced by local causes that it is difficult to establish any laws 
governing the Sitka storms. Our warning by barometer fall was very 
uncertain, for in some cases a short moderate gale was preceded by a 
long- continued and marked fall; at other times we had but short warning 
of much heavier storms. 

Of the seventeen storms described, fourteen were undoubtedly revolv- 
ing gales, which passed up the coast to the westward of us. The wind 
shifted to the right in all cases, but in several cases (September 12, Octo- 
ber 22, November 1, September 5, and October 26, of '67-80), the first 
changes were to the left. I think that these indicate a course of center 
more to the eastward than shown on the track chart of gale of October 
26, 1880, the bearing from Sitka being SSW., S., SE., SW., WSW., in 
many cases, which indicates that the impingement against the high land 
and consequent change of course occurs frequently considerably to the 
southward of Sitka, at times in the neighborhood of Whale Bay, 30 miles 
SSE. ; they then follow the coast line to 5NW., until sharply curved 
by the high land just north and east of the harbor, which produces an 
obstruction running east and west, and at the eastward trending to the 
south. The storm thus embayed seeks exit around the promontory of 
Cape Edgecomb, which is a high mountain, and, as soon as clear of it, 
travels rapidly up into the Gulf of Alaska, and when the center bears 
WW. from Sitka this high land proves a barrier, and the pressure on the 
barometer is suddenly released with a SSW. squall. The correct history 
of one of these storms, when obtained by the automatic instruments of 
the Signal- Service station, lately established at Sitka, will furnish a 
standard by which the errors incident to the substitution of judgment, 
which undoubtedly affect more or less the records which I have collected, 
can be eliminated, and they thus increase in value. 

In twelve of the fifteen storms the barometer began to rise with wind 
from SW. to SE. quadrants, the number being evenly divided. But with 
one exception the heaviest storms broke up with the SW. winds, fre- 
quently with heavy squalls which, fortunately for the ship, were the final 
ones, for striking us as they did on our broadside, they completely set- 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 125 

tied the question as to whether well backed anchor, could drag, for 
snapping 85-inch hawsers, which made fast to bowlders, backed OUl 
heaviest stream anchors, which in time with long scopes backed our 
SE. bower, we dragged all and narrowly escaped going ashore abri 
of the Indian ranche. 

In conclusion, I would call attention to the fact that this collation es- 
tablishes — 

First, That the rainfall at Sitka has by previously obtained records 
either been overrated, or a remarkable exception to- the usual weather 
occurred during our stay. 

Second. That the region cannot be considered a stormy one, inasmuch 
as by far the greater proportion of our time the wind ranged from cairn 
to gentle breezes. 

Third. That the proportion of time during which the weather is fairly 
pleasant is fully equal to that in which it is unpleasant. 

Fourth. That a regular land and sea breeze occurs almost daily 
throughout the late spring and summer. 

Fifth. That most of the winter storms are revolving gales. 

Sixth. That the barometer, although it generally gives warning of 
approaching gales, yet that its action cannot be altogether depended 
upon, as the pressure of the atmosphere is so much affected by local 
causes that frequently extreme depression may occur with no following 
storm to account for it. 

Seventh. That a storm from southeast to northeast, although it may 
in Sitka Harbor prove but of moderate force, very frequently indicates 
that, but a short distance to the southward, a heavy revolving storm is 
passing, the approach of which has been checked by the high land to 
the southward and eastward. In such cases, however, there is always 
an unmistakable warning which, if heeded, will prevent a ship leaving 
the harbor, however fair may be the barometrical indications and moder- 
ate the weather. This warning is the surf upon the outlying chains of 
reefs and islands. 

Upon numbers of occasions, when in the harbor we were experiencing 
pleasant weather and light winds, the surface of Vitzkari reef has been 
hidden by the immense breakers which dashed over it ; and within five 
miles of the ship, at the entrance of the middle channel, Surf Bock proves 
a most valuable indicator, for a disturbance from anywhere to the south- 
ward makes of it an apparently lofty fountain. 

During such heavy seas it is very seldom that enough penetrates the 
harbor to endanger a small boat, and our steam launches were safely 
moored near the ship and rode comfortably through the worst. 

The track of the storm of the 26th October,. 1880, accompanied the 
report of Lieutenant Symonds, and is reproduced on tkis accompanying 
section of chart of region. It probably represents as closely as I would 
be able to plot them the general tracks of our other storms. The baro- 
metrical action and shifts of wind are so affected by local causes in Sitka 
Harbor that they cannot be depended upon as furnishing positive data. 

The other storms differed from that of 26th October, in that their cen- 
ters did not approach so closely before veering to the westward. 

It seems orobable that during those of September 12th, October 22d, 
November 12th, 1879, and September 6th, 1880, the centers struck the 
coast considerably to the southward, traveled, parallel to it for a short 
distance, and then diverged to the westward,. passing well to south oi 
Biorka Island, about as depicted in "general track," their cenl 
having borne well to the southeast before turning. 



PAET IV 



TABULATED RECORD OF METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS OF 

THE U. S. STEAMER JAMESTOWN AT SITKA, ALASKA, 

FROM JUNE, 1879, TO DECEMBER, 1880, INCLUSIVE. 



12; 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA,. 



JUKE, 



Winds. 



First part. 



Middle part. 



SSE. 

c. 

SE. 

c. 

NE. 

EXE. 



sw. 

c. 

E, 

SE. 

NE. 

NW. 

W. 

ENE. 

EXE. 

SW. 

ssw. 

c. 
c. 

SE. 

v. 

c. 



SSE. 

{ NE. | 

\ SSW. 5 
c. 



2<fc 3 
3 &6 







1 <fc3 


1&4 



■8 

I 
g I 

fc -id 



1 

2.5 

4 

1 







2.2 



1. 



SE. to E. 

HE. 

SW. 

SWE. 





1&4 


1.6 




2&3 


2.1 




1 


1 




1 


1 




1 


1 




2-4 


3.8 




1-3 


2 


i 


2 


2 


1 


1 


1 




1-2 


1.1 




1-2 


1.1 




1-3 


2 



SW. 

SW. 
SW. 

SW. 
SW. 
SW. 
SW. 

SE. 
c. 

NW.. 

w. 

E. 
SW. 

SSW. 

w. 

c. 
SSW. 



SW. 

SE. 

SSW. 

SSW. 

c. 

SSW. 

s. 

SSW. 

0. 

s. 

SW. 



2&4 
3 &6 



1&2 

1 &2 

1& 3 

1 &2 

1 &2 

1 

lfc2 



2-4 

1-3 

2-4 

3-4 

1-4 
1-2 



1-2 

1-2 

2-4 
1 
1 



Last part. 



2&5 



2 & 4 2. 2 



3.3 
4.1 



1 & 2 1.5 



1.7 

1.5 

2.8 

1.5 

1.8 

1 

1.6 



2.8 

2 

3.2 

3.5 

2 
1.9 



1.3 
1.3 
2.4 

1 



1-3 L4 

2 2 

1-4 2. 1 



SE. 

SW. 

E. 

E. 



W. 

c. 

SW. 

W. 

SE. 

ENE. 

E. 

c. 

w. 

w. 

E. 

SW. 
c. 

SSW. 



T. 

c. 
v. 

T. 

SSE. 

SW. 

c. 
SW. 

NE. 



SW. 
NE. 

SW. 
NE. 
S. 
NE. 
NW. 

B. 



Hours of calm. 



1 & 2 1. 5 

1& 3 2 

3 & 4 3. 8 

3 & 4 3. 8 





2 &3 


1 

2 &3 

1 &2 

1 

1 &3 



4-5 

1-2 

2-4 

1-4 

1-3 
1-3 

1 



1 
1-3 

1-3 



1 
1 

1-2 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 

1-2 



2 
1.2 

1 

1 

1.5 

2 

1 

1 

1.5 

1 

1 
1.5 

1 



^ 2 



3.2 
1.4 



3.3 
0.5 
1.3 

o 

1.1 
1.2 
1.9 

0.7 
2.7 
1.5 



1.8 
1.5 

1 

1.1 

1.4 



1.4 
1 

1.4 
1.6 

1.4 

1.5 

1.2 



1 


6 11 


4 


... 12 


3 


7 17 


1 


5 14 




1 


4 


2 12 


• 


11 



. .... 5. 

-I * 9 ' 

6 3 1? 

,:: ! 

2... 3 



1 1 

6 6 

1113 

S 8 

3.. 



42 51 200 



The hours of calm are not included 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



129 



1879. 









"Weather. 










State of sky. 




Rain. 


Hours of— 


Ther. 


Wei bulb. 


Bar. 










d 

3 




-4J 






















1 

ft 

03 

H 


c8 
ft 

3 


1 

hi 


3 


a 

a 
6 

S 


o 

o 

4 


T. 

a 

u 

o 

M 




6 


i 

g 

c 

O 


a 

I 

g 

a 


| Maximum. 
Average. 


= 
| 
q 


5 

= 
J 

ci 

3 


© 

3 

► 




g 

g 

| 

9 


i 

J 

1 


> 


















o 


j 










o. r. f. 


b. c. q. 


o. c. d. 


18 


... 


0' 8 


10 


14 48 


55 51 47 


51 


50 29.9230.19 


30. 03 


b. c. 


b. c. 


b. c. m. 


1 




1 


19 


5 48 


55 51.2 45 


48 


47 30. 08 30. 19 


30.12 


b. c. 


c. d. 


b. c. q. 


4 




20 


3 48 


53 51.5 45 


49 


47 30. 02 30. 10 


30.07 


b. c. and o. d. 


o. q. p. 


o. c. 


6 







1 


23 50 


53 48 j 45 


48 47 29. 84 29. 98 


29.86 


o. r. m. 


o. d. f. 


o. d. f. 


23 




16 


1 


23 46 


50 49.1 46 


48 47.129.84 29.92 


29.87 


o. f. 


o. m. 


o. m. 


3 




24 


2 


22' 46 


53 


48.6 45 


49 47.3 29.93 30.16 30.15 


o. m. 


o. c. m. 


c. f. 1. 


9 




16 


1 


23 47 


52 


53.6 46 


48 47.4 30.08 30. 16 80. 10 


b. c. f. 


b. c. 


b. c. 










8 


16 


8 49 


(51 


51 1 48 


54 51. 7 29. 89 30. 09 29. 97 


b. c. f. 


o. f. d. 


0. c. f. 


4 







18 


4 


20 49 


53 


50 47 


50 49. 3 29. 89 29. 97 29. 93 


o. c. f. 


o. c. d. f. 


o. c. f. 


6 







18 


o 


24| 46 


51 


48 , 47 


50 48. 5 29. 86 80. 00 29. 90 


o. c. f. p. 


o. p. r. m. 


o. c. d. 


18 




11 


24 46 


49 


47 44 47 46 


29. 93 30. 03 29. 98 


o. c. p. q. 


o. c. r. m. 


o. m. d. r. 


19 




19 


24 46 


50 


47.3 44 46 


45.2 


29. 91 30. 14 30. 04 


o. r. 


o. f. r. 


o. f. r. 


24 




12 


0! 24 44 


48 


46 43 46 


45.1 


30. 08 30. 12 30. 10 


o. c. r. 


b. c. 


b. c. 


4 


'.V.\ o i 


17| 6 46 


50 


48.4 46 


4!) 


47.7 


30. 06 30. 22 30. 15 


o. c. 


b. c. 


c. 


1 


. 1 o y 15 47 


57 


5L.1 46 


52 


48.6 


30. 10 30. 25 30. 17 


o. c. 


o. c. q. r. 


o. c. q. r. 


14 


... o o 


1 22 48 


52 


50.2 


47 


51 


48.7 


29.88 30.1129.97 


o. c. 


o. c. q. 


o. c. d. 


6 




1 


23 


48 


52 


50 


47 


51 


48.9 


29. 87 30. 03 29. 96 


o. c. r. 


o. e. d. 


o. c. d. 


21 




10 





24 


47 


51 


49 


47 


50 


48.5 


30. 04 30. 17 30. 13 


o. c. d. 


o. c. 


c. 


6 




2 


4 


20 


48 


52 


50.2 


47 


52 


49.5 


29. 93 30. 14 30. 03 


■o. c. r. 


c. f. d. 


C o. c. d. \ 

[ b. c. 1 

b. c. m. 


20 




13 


4 


19 


49 


55 


51.8 


48 


53 


50.5 


29. 95 30. 05 30. 01 


c. in. 


b. c. 







9 


14 


9 


50 


59 


53.5 


49 


56 


51.6 


30. 02 30. 05 30. 04 


c. f. 


0. c. f. 


o. c. f. d. 


4 




23 





24 


50 


54 


52.1 


49 


53 


51 


29. 81 30. 03 29. 94 


o. c. d. m. 


o. c. f. r. 


o. c. f. r. 


24 




21 





24 


51 


55 


52.3 


50 


53 


51.2 


29. 77 29. 84 29. 82 


o. c. f. r. 


C b. c. 1 
\ o. c. S 

i c. i 

l b. c. 5 


o. c. f. 


G 




14 


4 


20 ! 50 


55 


51.7 


49 


54 


50. 8 29. 90 30. 00 


29. 97 


o. c. p. f. 


c. p. 


2 




O 1 2 


3 


21 49 


56 52.1 


48 


54 50.630.00-30.06 


30. 04 


o. c. r. 


o. c. m. r. 


o. c. m. r. 


24 




O' 12 





24! 48 


52 51.2 


47 


5150. 1129. 73 30. 05 


29. M 


o. c. f. r. 


{ b.\ } 


b. c. p. 


9 


... 


10 


11 


12; 48 


56 51.4 


47 


54 49. 8 29. 65 29. 90 


29. 74 


o. c. m. r. 


c. f. r. 


o. c. f. r. 


13 




15 


6 


18 49 


54 


51 


48 


52 49. 8 


29. 90 29. 95 


29.93 


o. c. f. d. 


o. c. f. 


c. f. 


7 




1 
15 





24 


49 


53 


51 


« 


52 49. 3 


29. 94 29. 98 


29.96 


o. c. p. 


o. c. f. 


0. c. 


2 




3 


2 


20 


48 


54 


51.8 


47 


53 




50. 4 
48.7 


29. 98 30. 06 


30.01 




298 




O-3OO.150 


562 






50.3 










30.00 



In the average force of wind. 

S. Ex. 71 9 



130 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



JULY. 





Winds. 




First 


part. 


' 


Middle part. 


Last part. 


EC 

u 



as 


Hours of calm. 




































i 


d 

_© 

Us 

© 
© 

s 




© 

p 


Pn 


© 

© 

t 

S 
> 


a 


© 
- 

s 


© 


© 

© 

.0 
© 

i 
< 




a 
.2 

© 
© 

p 




© 
© 



ft 


i 

& 

© 

1 


2 

--2 
© 

© 
> 

< 


i 

p* 


r. 
- 
© 


*3 

s 

Pi 
1 

>-3 


i 




i 


{ I- 


1 


1-3 


2.1 


SE. 


2-3 


2.5 


5 


KE. 

c. 


I 


1 


1 


2 2 




2 


4 


?, 


C KKE. 

w. 

WNW 


I 


1-2 


1.5 


SW. 





2 








1-2 


1.8 


1.7 »L 




5 


3 


1-2 


1.1 


sw. 


1-4 


3.2 




SW. 




3-4 


3.8 


2.8 






3 


4 


3-5 
1-2 


3.6 
1.7 


SW. 

w. 


2-4 
3-5 


2.4 
3.5 


{ 


W. 
W. 


, 


3-4 


3.1 

1 


3 
3.4 










5 






1 


1 


6 


E. 




1 




s. 


1-3 


1.4 


SE. 


I 




1 


1.2 


2 


1 


3 


6 


7 


SE. 

C SSE. 
1 c. 


! 


1 
1-3 


1.8 


\ T- \ 


1-2 
1 


1.4 

1 


SSE. 
KE. 




1 
1 


1.1 
1.4 









8 


1 2 




3 


9 


KE. 




1-2 


1.1 


sw. 


1-2 


1.1 


I 
{ 


KE. 


I 




1 


1.1 




4 


4 


10 
11 


KB. 
WNW 


! 


1 
4 

1 


4 


sw. 


1-4 
4-5 

1 


2 
4.8 

1 


w. 

w. 

v. 
c. 


1-3 


4 
2.3 

1 


2.3 
3.7 

1 


.... 1 


.... 


1 


12 


1 { I: } 


2 5 





9 


13 


i ;• 


j 


1-2 


1.4 


KB. 


2-3 


2.5 


I 


KE. 
c. 


! 




1 


1.8 


2.... 


2 


4 


14 


{ 1 


I 


1 


1 


{ S c E ' } 


1 


1 


I 


v. 

c. 


1 


1-3 


2 


1.5 5.... 


3 


8 


15 


i I 


| 


1-2 


1.3 


sw. 


1-2 


1.1 


i 


T. 
C. 


I 


2 


2 


1.5 2 1 


4 


7 


Ifi 


{ e. 

WNW 

V. 

W. 


I 


1 


1 


STT 


1 5 


4 1 




xw 




3-4 


3.8 


3 5 5 




f> 


17 


2-4 

1 

2-4 


3.2 w. 
1 1 W. 
3.4 W. 


2-3 

2-4 
2 


2.3 
3.3 
2 




w. 

w. 
w. 




2-3 
3-4 
1-2 


2.5 
3.5 
1.5 


2.8 
2.7 
2.3 








18 








19 









20 




} 


1 




SW. 


1-2 


1.9 


{ 
\ 


XE. 


J 


1 


1 


1.4 3 . ... 


3 


6 


R1 


I 






SW. 

sw 


1-2 
1 


1.7 
1 


SW. 

SW. 

c. 


I 


1-2 

1 


1.2 

1 


1.3 6 

1 






6 
6 


22 


1 




.... 


1 


?,3 


C NW. 


I 


1 




s 


1 2 


1 8 




SW 




1 


1 


1.3 4... 




4 


?A 


i c. 






s. 


1 2 


1.5 




SW. 




1 


1 


1.3 8.... 






?5 


* 1 

W. 

V. 

E. 
{ N c E - 
{ ? 


] 


1 




sw 


1 


1 








1 


1 


1 6 




6- 


?,fi 


1 




SE 


1 2 


1 1 




w. 




2-3 


2.5 


1. 8 5 




5 


07 




1 
1 

1 
1 


1 


sw. 

sw. 
c sw. 1 
X c. 5 

sw. 


2-3 
1 

1-3 
1 


2.1 
1 

2.3 
1 




v. 

v. 

KE. 




1-2 

1 
1 


# 1.1 
1 
1 


1.5 

1 

1.6 








28 
9q 


1 


3 


4 


SO 


1 


5 6 


8 


19 


31 


I 


1 


1 


1-4 


2 


i 


W. 
c. 


i 


2-3 


2.8 


1.8 


3 .... 


2 


5 














1. 8 74 17 


38 129 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



131 



1879. 









Weather. 






State of sky. 


Rain. 


Honrs of— 


Ther. 


wvt bulb. 




1 

i 

s 


43 

i 

p. 

3 


P< 
-*^ 
to 

CS 


BO 

1 


! 

a 

*- 

q 

I 

< 


I 

t 

c 


1 
z 

z 


O 


- 

■~ 

> 



= 
E 
'g 


= 


s 


1 
-5 


5 

| 

'= 

9 


i 

- 
= 

- 


- 
< 


- 

i 


i 

= 

g 

M 

■ 


- 
- 




















o 








o 













o. c. r. 


o. c. r. 


0. c. f. 


18.. 





16 





24 


49 


56 52.4 


48 


54 


51.429.9] 


30. 02)29. 96 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 












22 


2 


48 


61 54 


47 


57 


51.6 29.98 


30.12JS8.07 


b.c. 


b.c. 


0. c. 












21 


3 


50 


60 54.5 


49 


58 


53. 3 29. 96 39. 10 30. 02 


c. 


0. c. 


0. c. 









5 


2 


]7 


49 


57 52.3 


48 


54 


50 29. 9130. 00)29. 94 


0. c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 












17 


7 


51 


57 52.6 


47 55 


49. g 29. 92 30. 


b.c. 


c. m. r. 


o. c. r. 


14 







3 


6 


18 


4s 


53 51.7 


47 52,50.4 30.05 30.12 30.08 


o. c. r. 


o. c. r. 


o. c. r. 


18.. 





9 





24 


52 


55 53.4 


51 55 


52. 4 29. 84 30. 1 


o. c. r. 


o. c. d. 


0. c. 111. 


12 .. 





20 


24 


47 


53 50.6 


46 52 


49.7 29.81 29. 90*28. 88 


o. c. r. 


o. c. 


b.c. 


5.. 








14 10 


45 52 48.9 


44 51 


47.629.8229. K 


b.c. 
b.c. 


b.c. 
b.c. 


b. c. q. 
b.c. 





■■ 











24 
23 1 


45 60 52.1 
51 56 53.1 


43 56 50. 2 29. 82 29. 89 29. 85 
50 53j50.929.8129. - 


0. c. 


o. c. d. 


o. c. p. 


18 


.. 





19 


24 


50 54 52.2 


50 53 51.429.6429.89 29.71 


C b. c. I 
I o. c. d. 5 


b.c. 


b.c. 


» 







3 


21 


3 


49 65 56.4 


49 60 53 29. 70 29. 98 29. M 


b.c. 


b. 


b.c. 






24 





49 69 60.4 


48 67 57. 8 29. 92 30. 00 29. 95> 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 






24 





53 65 58.7 


52 62 56. 5 29. 93 30. 01 29. 96 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 






24 





51 64 


58 


50 59 55. 5 30. 01 30. 16 30. OX 


c. 

o. c. m. 

o. c. 


0. c. 

c. 

0. c. 


0. c. 
0. c. 
0. c. 


1 
.... 










1 
3 


3 




13 
24 

24 


54 58 
53 56 
52 56 


55. 4 
54. 8 
54 


53 50 54 30.16 30.20 30.17 
52 55 53.8 30.06 30.19 30.13 
51 55 52. 6 30. 00 30. 06 30. 14 


o. c. 


0. c. 


b.c. 












9 15 53 


64 


56.8 


52 52 55. 1 29. 97 30. 01 29. 9 


b.c. 


b. c. m. 


0. c. 









20 


10 


12 52 


61 55.7 


51 


6954.530.0030.1730.0 




b.c. 
b.c. 


0. c. 
b.c. 








o 


12 
9 


9 

15 


15 55 


60 57.1 
63 58.1 


54 59 50 
54 6156.5 


30. 1980. 30:80. 26 


o. c. m. 






30. 30 30. 36 30. 33 


c. 


b. c. f. 


b. c. f. 


1 







12 10 


12 55 61 56.7 54 60 55. 6 30. 25 30. 3i 


o. c. r. 


b.c. 


o. c. r. 


6 







8 8 


15 56 


66 60.2 55 64 58.7 30.19 30.2630.21 


o. c. r. 


o. c. p. 


o. c. in. 


14 







11 


1 


23 56 64 58.9 56 6257.7 30.17 30.20.80.19 


c. r. 
c. r. 
b.c. 


b.c. 
b. c. p. 
b. c. p. 


b.c. 

b. c. p. 

b.c. 


3 
14 

2 


■■ 







4 

I 


13 

6 
21 


11 54 63 57. 2 53 58 55. 2 30, 01 30. 19 30. 11 
14 51 59 55.7 50 58,54. 8 29. 89 29. 9* 
49 59 53.7 48 56 52.1,29.8330.01 


cm. 


c. d. m. 


c. m. p. 


8 







» 


7 


15 


4! 


5! 


54. 9 48 58 53. 6 30. 02 30. 22 30. 1 3 


b. c. ni. 


b.c. 


o. c. 


1 







* 


10 


8 


55 


64 


57.3 54 60 55.6 30.22 30.. 








137 


—* 


( 

fc. — 


. 

17( 


3S1 


367 






iiiH|S« 



132 



AFFAIRS IX ALASKA. 



AUGUST, 



Winds. 



First part. 



c. 
NE. 

NE. 

c. 
NE. 

c. 



4 


1 


NE. 

c. 


•«) 


v. 
c. 


6 


1 


NE. 


' 7 


NE. 
c. 


8 




c. 


9 


I 


c. 


10 


1 


c. 
E. 


11 


1 


c. 

V. 


12 




c. 


13 




e. 


14 




e. 


1.3 




e. 


10 


J 


c. 

E. 


17 




SE. 


18 


I 


SE. 
NE. 


19 




c. 
NE. 


20 


I 


c. 
NE. 


21 


1 


c. 

NE. 


22 


1 


NE. 
c. 


23 




c. 


24 




c. 


25 


I 


NE. 

c. 


26 




V. 


27 




c. 


28 




c. 


29 


1 


SE. 
E. 


30 




EXE 


31 




ENE 



1-2 
6-8 

1-2 

1-2 
2-4 

4 i 
1 
1 

1 

1! 



2-5 

2-4 
1-4 



Middle part. 



3.3 
3.8 



c. 
SW. 

sw. 

SW. 
SW. 

w. 

SW. 
c. 

s. 

E. 
SW. 

SW. 



SW. 



c. 
v. 

E. 
SW. 

SE. 

SE. 

SE. 

SE. 

NE. 
SE. 

c. 
SW. 

c. 
SW. 

SSE. 



SW. 
c. 

w. 

c. 
SW. 

SW. 

w. 

s. 



SE. 

ENE. 
ENE. 



{ 8^. } 



{ SW. \ 



1-2 

.: 

1-3 
!M 
1-2 

1 
1 

1-3 

3-4 

1 

1 



1-2 

2-7 

1-1 

1-5 
2-1 

1-3 

2 

1-2 



Last part. 



1.1 

2 

1.1 

2 

3.1 

1.2 

1 

1.3 

3.8 
1 



2 

1.3 i 
4.2 



L 8 

1.6! 



2 

1.5 



2-3 


» 


1 
2 


1 
2 


2-4 


3.2 


1-3 


1.8 


1-4 


2.6 



1-3 
1 


2.4 
1 


1-5 

3-5 

1-2 


2.5 

3.5 

1.2 







Hours of calm. 











tJ 




*3 


i 


- 


i 


— — 


- 


3 


7. 



SW. 
c. 



c. 

V. 

SW. 

c. 
W. 

c. 

c. 



{ T } 



1-2 



W. 
NE. 

W. 

c. 

V. 

c. 

V. 

c. 

NE. 

E. 

SE. 
SE. 
c. 

E. 

SE. 

ESE. 

NE. 

c. 
NE. 

NE. 

SW. 

c. 

W. 
NE. 

c. 
NE. 
SW. 

c. 
W. 

c. 

c. 



NE. 

ENE. 
ENE. 



2-6 
2-3 
1-2 

1-4 
1-6 



2-3 

3-5 
2-4 

1 



2-5 

1-4 
1-3 



3.8 
2.1 
1.1 

2.5 
3.2 

2 

1 

1 

1 
1 

2.1 
1 

1 

3.2 

3.1 

1 



3.8 



2. 5 

a 



1.5 

1.3 

1.3 

1.4 

2.2 

1.5 

1.1 

1.3 

1.3 

3.2 

1 

1 

2 

4.3 

2.3 

2.2 
3.8 
1.9 
1.2 
1.2 

1.6 
1.3 

2.4 
1.4 
2.3 

2 

1 



3.2 

1.9 






1 
2 
1 
1 

.. 3 

.. , 
1 ■ 



,. 



8 1 



1.... 

1 .... 
1 .... 
1 3 



11 
13 

10 



8 21 



1.84 81 28 54 158 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



H3 



1879. 



Weather. 





State of sky. 




Rain. 


Hours of— 


Ther. Wet bulb. 




i 

«j 
'O 


3 

p- 

s 


gj 

P 

o 

w 


4 

g 

- 
o 
5 
< 


'3 

.a 
u 


o 


s 


6 


a 

I 

► 



6 

p 

a 

| 
9 


I 

J 


- 

t 

5 

> 


I 

3 

9 


5 
| 

1 



M 

■ 

8 

> 

4 


I 

I 
1 


i 

1 

% 

















c. 


b. c. 


b. c. 












22 


2 




52 




64 


o 
57 




53 


* 




54. 8 ;J0. 17 


30. 25 


30.21 


c. 


b. c. 


b. c. 


1 







2 


21 


3 


51 


82 


56 50 


f., 


54 30. 09 


30.17 


30.12 


c. 


b. c. 


b. c. 


.... 


" 








22 


2 


53 


64 


58.6 53 


60 


57 30. 10 


30. 17 


30.14 


c. 


b. c. 


b. c. 


.... 










24 





50 


«7 


59.4 49 


62 56. 8 30. 16 


30. 22 


30.19 


e. 


b. c. 


b. c. 


— 










24 





52 


70 


60.8 


51 


69 58. 3 30. 04 30. 14 


30.11 


c. 


b. c. 


b. c. 












24 





53 


09 


61 


52 


68 


60. 1 29. 90 30. 04 29. 96 


c. 


b. c. p. 


0. c. 


1 










13 


10 57 


62 


58.9 57 


60 


58. 3 29. 87 29. 93 29. 90 


c. 


b. c. 


b. c. 


2 


-- 





1 


13 


10 56 64 

! 


60.2 


55 


63 


59. 2 29. 92 30. 16 30. 08 


c. 


b. c. 


b. c. p. 


2 










20 


4 52 70 


61.5 


51 


. 


60. 6 29. 92 30. 14 30. 05 


o. c. q. r. 


o. c. r. 


c. d. 


23 













24 57 61 


60.2 


56 


00 


59. 5 29. 84 30. 06 29. 94 


o. c. p. 


o. c. p. m. 


0. c. 


4 







10 


4 


20 57 60 


59 


56 


01 


57. 9 30. 02 30 14 30. 09 


o. c. r. 


o. c. r. 


b. c. 


15 







4 


8 


16 52 59 


56. 4' 51 58 55. 7 29. 89 30. 01 29. 96" 


o. c. r. 


b. c. 


o. c. d. 


3 










10 


14 


52 60 


56.1 


52 56 


54. 5 29. 75 29. 98 29. 92 


o. c. p. q. 


o. c. q. r. 


o. c. p. 


12 










4 


16 


53 62 


57.6 


52 57 


55.2 29.6129.88 29.75- 


o. c. p. 


b. c. p. 


o. c. p. 


3 










9 


9 


53 59 


56.2 


52 


56 


54. 2 29. 85 30. 01 29. 89 


o. c. r. 


o. c. p. q. 


o. c. q. 


14 







9 





■21 


54 60 


56 


54 


59 55. 4 30. 03 30. 20 30. 12 


o. c. r. 


o. c. r. 


o. c. q. r. 


24 










o 


24 


52 58 


55.6 


51 57 54. 5 29. 63 30. 04 29. 80 


o. c. r. 


o. c. q. r. 


o. c. p. 


18 













24 


49 56 


52.9 


49 55 51.9 29.62 29.7120.67 


b. c. 


b. c. 


b. c. 


1 










23 


1 


46 60 


54.3 45 59 52.7 29.60 29.80 29.69 


1). c. 


c. p. 


b. c. 


1 










21 


2 


49 


60 


54.2 


48 58 52. 9 29. 82 29. 90 


29.86 


b. c. 


b. c. 


b. c. 


o 










24 





4(i 


52 


55.1 


44 60 52. 5 -29. 64 20..84 


29. 73 


b. c. 


b. c. 


b. c. d. 


4 










20 


3 


49 


67 


58.1 


48 65 56. 3 29. 65 29. 78 


29.72 


b. c. 


b. c. 


b. c. 













24 





51 


70 


58.2 


50 63 3(1 4 29. 52 29. 70 


29. 58 


b. c. 


b. c. 


b. c. 










(1 


24 





49 


69 


59.3 


49 67 57. 4 29. 03 29. 84 


29. 78 


b. c. 


b. c. 


b. c. 













22 


2 


52 


05 


58.9 


51 


04 56. 4 29, 92 30. 00 


29. 97 


b. c. 


b. c. 


c. 





..■ 


9 





18 


6 


40 


63 


56.5 


44 


60 53. 9 29. 91 29. 97 




0. c. 


o. c. d. 


o. c. d. 


11 







12 





24 


54 


57 


56 


54 56 55 29. 92 29. 91 29. 76 


0. c. 


o. c. d. 


o. c. d. 


11 







9 





24 


54 


59 


56.5 


53 59 55. 6 29. 53 29. 07 29. 03 


o. c. q. 


b. c. q. 


o. c. p. q. 


8 







4 


4 


14 


52 


59 


56.2 


50 5754.5129.43 29. 69 2ft. M 


o. c. r. 
o. c. r. 


o. c. p. q. 
o. c. p. 


o. c. q. r. 
b. c. 


18 
187 









1 





53 



6 

404 

! 


s 

320 


50 
53 


55 

57 


53 

54.6 

~57~2 


49 51 51.0 2!). 71 29. 9t 

53 57 53. 5 29. ^o 30. 02 29. 97 

55. 7 29, 90 



134 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



JANUAEY, 



Winds. 



First part. 



Middle part. 



Last part. 



Hours of calm. 



i 

10 



E. 
EN T E. 

c. 

SE. 
EXE. 
ESE. 

c. 

c. 

X*E. 

c. 
NAT. 

W. 
ESE. 

c. 

SE. 



E. 

SE. toE. 

EXE. 

( SE. 
} S\Y r . 

XE. 



XE. 
c. 

SVF. 

c. 
c. 



EXE. 

c. 
XE. 

c. 
XE. 



EXE. 



1-3 
1-3 

1-3 

3-5 



1-3 

1-4 

1-2 

2-5 

1-2 

4-8 ! 
1-2 

5-7 

3-4 
5-1 

1-3' 

1 

1 



1-2. 



1 

, 

2-4 
1 
1 

2-3 



2.3 

1.3 
4.4 



6.3 

1.3 

6 | 

3.5 
3 

1.5 

1 

1 I 



1 

1.1 



EXE. 
SE. 

SE. I 
XE. 5 

ESE. 

W. 
E. 
EXE. 
c. ? 
v. 5 
WSW. 
E. 

SE. 5 
XE. 
SE. 
E. 

EXE. 
SW. 

W. 

c. 

sw. 

BW. 

i I 

V. 

SE. } 

{ s°w. } 

E. 

\ w. i 



2.4 



1-2 1. 8 



SE. 
E. 



E. X. E. 

ESE. 

c. 

SW. 



3-6 

1-4 



2 
3-9 
1-4 

1^ 

1-3 

5-6 

1-2 

7 
7-3 

1 

2-5 
1-2 
1-2 



1 
1-3 

1 

1 
1-3 

1 

1 
1 
1-4 
1-4 
1-4 
1-2 
1-3 



4.6 

2.5 

J 

5.5 
2.3J 

1.8 \ 

5.2 

1.3 

7 
5 

1 

M< 

LI 
"I 



1 

1.7 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

1 

2.5 

,J| 

1.6 
1.4 



ENTE. 

E. 

c. 

NE. 

EXE. 

W. 

W. 

EXE. 

E. 

WJNW. 

c. 

c. 

V. 

XE. 

XE. 

XE. 

SE. 

EXE. 
c. 
SE. 

XE. 

c. 
v. 
c. 



c. 
c. 

V. 

c. 

SE. 
c. 

¥SW. 

c. 
SE. 

EXE. 

EXE. 



c. 
v. 

EXE. 
XE. 



2-6 

1-4 

1 

4-2 
1-2 
1-2 



1-2 
1-2 

1 
2-7 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1-4 



3.4 
3 

1 J 

3.4 
1.8 
1.4 



1-3 

* 


2 
4 


1-3 


1.3; 


1 


1 1 


1-4 
2-3 


2.4 
2.3 


1 


1 


1-4 


2 


2-6 


3.5 


2-4 


2.8 


1 


1 


1 


1 
: 


1 


:::::: 

1 



1.2 
1.0 
1 
5 

1 

1 

1 
2 



3.5. 
2.5. 

1.3 



1.9 

4.1 
1.9 

1.4 

L8 

3.7 

1.2 
4.5 

,1 

4.4 



1.3 

1 
1 
1.7 

1 

1 
1.6 

■ 

2.1 

2.2 

1.3 

1.5 

1.9. 

1.4 



; 



64 26 61 151 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



1 35 



1879. 



Weather. 



State of sky. 


Eain. 


Hours of— 


Ther. 


Wet bulb. 


Bwr. 




Middle part. 


P, 

►J 


p 



w 


o 

a 

HS 

a 

B 

o 

5 


el 

A 
U 

o 

1 


4 

i 

s 


d 
8 


X 

CS 
I 

s 
> 




2 

J 

.3 


a 

P 

a 

3 


o 
te 

a 
E 

B 
> 
< 


S 
p 

= 

'5 

9 


a 

I 

"v. 


„• a 
•3 3 

o 
53. 429. 81 
53. 7 29. 78 


a 

p 

1 

29. BO 

30.01 


1 

- 
> 


c.p. 
o. c. r. 


c. q. d. 
o. c. r. 


o. c. r. 
o. c. d. 


10 
23 








12 1 



23 

24 




53 

53 


o 
57 

58 


1 

o o 
55 51 
55 52 




55 
56 


29.90 


o. c. r. 


o. c.p. 


o. c. q.d. 


12 


... 







22 


54 


57 


55.2 52 


56 


54. l|30. 04 


30.23 


30.16 


o. c r. 


o. c. q. 


b. c. q. 


6... 

| 





1 8 


16 54 


62 


58.8 53 


61 


57 30. 06 


30.17 


30.13 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b. c. p. 


1 


16 


8 51 


64 


57.4 50 


62 


56. 1 29. 67 


30.02 


29.82 


0. c. 


o. c. q. d. 


o. c. q. 


2... 


u 0^24 55 


64 


58.7 


54 61 


56. 9 29. 26 29. 65 


29.42 


o. c. p. 


o. c. q. 


o. c. 


4 







4 


20 


52 


59 


56.5 


51 57 


55. 2 29. 26 29. 53 


29.39 


o. c. d. 


b.c. 


b.c. 


4 







14 


10 


m 


60 


57.1 


52 62 55.129.18 29.40 


29.24 


o. c. r. 
o. c. q. 


o. c. p. 
o. c. q. r. 


o. c. p. 
o. c. r. 


14 ... 
16... 






1 
3 


15 

21 


53 

51 


57 
55 


54.6 
52.7 


52 55 53. 4 29. 38 29. 84 29. 64 
50 54 51. 6 29. 60 29. 84 29. 69 


o. c. p. 


o. c. r. 


o. c. r. 


19 .. 





24 


52 


58 54.8 


51 57 53.7 29.78 30.13 30.00 


o. c. q. r. 


o. c. q. r. 


o. c. p. 


18... 








20 


52 


55 


53.5 


5l| 54 52. 2 29. 62 29. 92 29. 78 


o. c. p. 


o. c. p. 


o. c. p q. 


13 







1 


l 


20 


50 


55 


51.8 


48 53 50. 5 29. 85 29. 91 29. 88 


o. c. q. r. 


o. c. q. r. 


o. c. r. 


24 







4 


C 


24 


50 


56 


52.5 


48 54 51. 3 29. 75 29. 87 29. 79 


o. c. r. 


o. c. p. 


o. c. m. 


5 







12 


1 


23 


51 


57 


54.7 


50 


56 53. 7 29. 86 30. 31 30. 15 


o. c. m. 


b.c. 


b. c. r. 


3... 





2 12 


11 


51 


59 


54.1 


50 


57 52. 8 30. 19 


30. 30 30. 26 


o. c . p. 


o. c. r. 


o. c. d. 


19 .. 





4 


24 


52 


59 


55.2 


51 


58 54. 4 30. 12 


30. 30 30. 19 


o. c. m. 


b. c. f. 


b.c. 


oL. 





14 14 


10 


53 


61 


56.4 


52 


60 55. 2 30. 15 


30. 30 30. 22 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b. c. f. 


0... 





9 19 


5 


53 65 57.1 


52 62 55.7 30.16 


30. 19 30. 18 


b. c. m. 


b.c. 


b.c. 


... 





9 24 





52 


72 59.2 


51 05 56.7 30.07 30.17 30.11 

1 


b.c. 


b. c. f. 


b. c. m. 










8 24 





50 


75 59.3 


49 71 57. 3 29. 95 30. 04 29. 98 


o. c. m. 


o. c. m. 


c.r. 


4 







17 


2 


22 


53 


57 54.8 


52 56 53. 8 30. 02 30. 12 30. 08 


o. c. m. 


o. c. d. 


o. c. d. 


17 







16 





24 


53 


56 1 54. 6 


51 55 53. 5 29. 87 30. 09 29. 97 


o. c. d. 


b. c. m. 


o. c. 


C 


18 







15 


52 


57 53.7 


51 55 52. 6 29. 84 29. 92 29. 90 


o. c. 


o. c. d. 


o. c. d. q. 


17 


« 





0, 


24 50 


58 52.4 


49 56 51. 3 29. 29 29. 82 29. 57 


o. c. r. 


o. c. q. r. 


o. c. p. 


19 


105 





1 



24 52 


56 54. 1 


51 55 53 20.2129.39 29.31 


b. c. p. 


b.c. 


b.c. 


4 


7 








18 


48 


58 52.4 


47 56 51. 2 29. 20 29. 34 29. 26 


b.c. 


b. c. p. 


0. c. 


4 


17 : 








16 


4 46 


57 50.9 


45 55 49. 8 29. 27 2ft 56 


29.41 


b. c. p. 


b. c. p. s. q. ' 


b.c. 


2 


f 


1 





18 


44 


54 48 


43 53 46. 9 20. 56 29. 70 29. 64 


b.c. 


o. c. r. 


o. c. d. 


1] 


J 





J 7 


17 39 48 44. 2 


38 47 43. 2 29. 45 29. 63 29. 53 








277 


{W 


1 


118 

1 


212 


474 




1 


54.5 






*1 




29. 86 



* 7 days' observations. 



136 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



OCTOBER, 



Winds. 



First part. 



Middle part. 



Last part. 



Hours of calm. 



£ g 



NE. 
ESE. 



NE. 



\ v. S 



29 



31 



c. 

V. 

\ NE. 
C SE. 

\ ssw. 

(TOW. 
< to 

( ssw. 

NE. 

NW. 

{ N c E ' 

C NE. 
$ NW. 

NE. 

NE. 

v. 

NE. 

NE. 

NE. 

NE. 

NE. 

ESE. 
E. 

SE. 
C ENE. 
\ SE. 

SE. 

SE. 
WNW. 

I NW. 

{ I 

5 NE. 



2-6! 

1 

1 
1-2 

1-2 

1 

7-8 

2-3 

1 

4 



3-5 
1-2 



1 
2-6 
1-3 
3-7 
7-9 
4-6 
4-5 
1-3 
1-4 

1-3 
4 
1 
1 



1.5 

3.9| 

1 
1 
1.2 

*.3 

1 

7.5 



":i 



4.] 
1.1! 

1 

1.2 

1 
2.8 

1 

1 

3.3 
1.6 

5.6 

8.2 
4-7 
4. S 
2.1 
2.6 

2.] 

4 

1 

1 

1 



NE. 
c. 

NE. 

NW. 

NE. 
v. 

SSW. 

W.byS. 
ENE. 

SSW. 

sw. 

NE. 

NE. 

WNW. 

NE. 

NE. 
c. 
c. 

V. 

NE. 

SE. 

E. 

c. 

v. 

NE. 
ENE. 

E. 

E. 

E. 
SE. 

E. 

SE. 

SE. 

SW. 

c. 

T. 



c. 

NE. 



3-6 4. 7 

1-2 1. 2 

1-2 1 1. 4 | 

1-2 1. 3 

1-2 1. 2 

3-8 5. 4 



5-8 
2-4 

1-2 
2-5 

3-5 
1 
1 

1-2 

1-2 

1-4 
2-4 



3-6 
1-3 
1-3 
7-8 
8-4 
2-5 

2-3 



6.1 

2.2 

1.2 
3 

4 

1 
1 
1. 

1. 

2 
2. 

1 

5 

2. 

2 
7. 
7 
4 

2,8 

2.5 



SE. 

NE. 

NE. 

c. 
v. 

NE. 

NE. 

NE. 
ENE. 

S. 
SSW. 

NE. 

NE. 

NNW. 

NNW. 

NE. 

NE. 
NE. 



NE. 



NE. 
NE. 

ENE. 

T. 

NE. 

NE. 

SE. 

NE. 

NE. 

SW. 

SE. 

r.W. 

NE. 



c. 

c. 

NE. 



1-2 

1-2 


1.5 
1.5 


2-4 


3 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


i 


1-2 


1.5 


7-8 
3-5 
3-6 
2-3 


7.8 

4 

4 

2.1 


1 


1 


8-5 


* 



1-2 
1-6 

1-* 

1-2 

1 

1-4 
1-2 

1 

2-7 
1 
1-3 
6-8 
4-6 
4-5 
2 
3-1 
1-3 

1-2 
1-2 

1 

1 
1 



1. 4 ... . 
3. 8 ... . 



1.3 

1.2 
1.1 



1.8 
1.4 



1 
2.1 

1.3 

1 

5.2 

1 

2.2 

7.2 

4.8 

4.6 

2 



2 

1-7 



1.2 



1 .... 



3...- 
1 .... 

4 2 



1.3 


1 


1 




4 5 


? 






,» 








1 R 








? 6 









3 1 








1 R 


1 






1.9 




1 





1.2 




4 




1 3 






3 


1.7 








° 1 








1.2 





3 


3 


4 








- • 






1 


1 R 








6.7 
li 5 








4.4 

fl 7 






























2 




' 





1 


i 




2 


1 


3 


4 


1 


1 


1 


3 


2 



20 14 51 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



137 



1879. 



Weather. 



State of sky. 


Rain. 


Hours of— 


Th.r. 


Wet-bulb. 


Barometer. 


Eg 

cS 
Pi 

1 


Pi 

is 
9 


1 

p. 

00 


P 
O 

w 


4 

j 

.5 

a 

I 

< 


1 

- 



a 


■t. 

a 

5 
M 






i 

► 

o 


S 

1 

a 


I 
§ 
H 


e 
► 

•4 


5 

- 


a 

s 
i 

s 


6 
u 

> 

4 


- 
= 

9 


I 

1 

* 

-. 


< 




















1 



























O O 





O 






b.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 








° 





24 





35 


60 46- 


35 57 44. 6 •_".). 58 29. 94 20. N 


b. c. q. 


b. c. q. 


C.q. 








° 





13 


11 


47 


52 


49.2 


44 49 


47. 2 29. 10 29. 82 


29. 37 


b.c. 


o. c. r. 


b.c. 


7 


8 








11 


13 


46 


52 


49.1 


45 51 


48 29.04 29.20 


29. 11 


b.c. 


b.c. 


c. 











3 


18 


6 44 


57 


48.7 43 54 47.129.20 29.30 


29. 27 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 














24 


43 


63 


50.3 42 59 48.9 29.2129.52 


29.31 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 














24 





42 


61 


48.8 41 57 


47. 3 29. 53 29. 87 


29. 75 


b.c. 


c. r. q. 


c. r. q. 


14 


70 





1 


5 


19 


43 


51 


46.9 42 50 


45. 7 29. 03 29. 89 29. 50 


K o.c.q. > 
I r. h. > 


o. c. q. r. 


{ 11 } 


10 


91 


2 


2 


4 


20 


40 


5. 


49 


45 49 47. 6 29. 18 29. 65 29. 42 


o. c. r. h. 


b. c. b. 1. 


b. c. p. 


7 


24 


2 





7 


4 


42 


50 


45.7 


41 


49 44. 6 29. 68 29. 88 29. 76 


b.c. 


b. c. q. 


b. c. q. 














24 





36 


49 


41.8 


35 


45 39.7 29.8829.99 29.92 


b.c. 


b. c. q. 


b.c. 














24 





37 


55 


45 


35 


48 41.5 30.02 30.22 30.15 


b.c. 


o. c. d. s. 


{ W } 


1.3 


25 


2 


3 


3 


21 


36 


45 


41.4 


35 


44 40. 3 29. 34 30. 12 29. 78 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 





5 


2 


1 


21 


3 


34 


57 


43.5 


32 56 42. 1 29. 32 29. 62 29. 54 


b.c. 


b. c. m. 


b. c. r. s. 


3 


20 


3 


3 


16 


4 


34 


57 


43.3 


33 55 


42 29. 01 29. 73 29. 67 


b. c. r. 


o. c. r. 


o. c. 


10 


55 


2 


1 


3 


20 


36 


45 


41.6 


35 44 


40. 7 29. 44 29. 77 29. 09 


o. c. 


b. c. 


c.s.p. 


1 


14 


4 





8 


14 39 


47 


42.9 


38 46 42 '29.27 29.04 29.42 


b. c. q. 
b.c. 


b. c. p. 8. 
b.c. 


b.c. 
b.c. 


1 



11 



3 

• 






19 

24 


2 



32 
30 


47 
45 


38.6 32 46 
35. 2 . . . 43 


37. 5 29. 65 29. 75 29. 70 
.... 29.63 29.7729.71 


b. c. 

o. c. p. 1. 

o. c. p. 8. 

o. c. q. 

o. c. q. 

o. c. q. r. 


o. c. q. s. 
o. c. p. h. 
b. c. p. 
o. c. p. q. 
o. c. q. d. 
o. c. q. r. 


o. c. q. s. r. 
o. c. p. r. h. 

o. c. p. 

o. c. q. 
o. c. q. d. h. 

o. c. q. 


4 
8 
6 
2 
9 
11 


51 
39 
32 

"8 
53 


3 

8 

I 




6 11 12 

4 21 
1 9 14 
3 4 20 
4 20 
1 22 


29 
36 

39 
44 
45 
44 


44 
46 
49 
53 
56 
51 


37. 5 . . 
40.3 36 
43.7 38 
48.5 43 

50.3 44 

46.4 43 


41 

45 

47 
54 
48 


.... 29. 58 29. So 2ft 72 
39. 8 29. 54 29. 8 
42.9 29.86 30.17 30.07 
44. 9 29. 42 30. 07 29. 7:{ 
47.9 29. 12 29.39 29. 21 
45 29. 31 29. 65 29. 54 


o. c. d. 


o. c. q. r. 


o. c. 


15 


57 





3 2 22 


46 49 


47.5 44 


48 


40. 3 29. 50 29. 84 29. 69 


o. c. p. q. 


b. c. p. q. 


o. c. p. 


10 


39 





1 2 17 


44 51 


47.8 43 


51 


47 2ft 84 30. 12 


30. 02 


o. c. p. h. 


o. c. q. p. h. 


b. c. p. h. s. 


5 


71 


14 


14 


36' 45 


40. 5 


35 


45 


39. 9 30. 00 


3ft 88 


30.13 


o. c. q. p. s. 


b. c. q. 


b.c. 


2 


19 


6 


15 3 


29 42 


35.8 




42 


.... 30. 40 


30.66 


30. 57 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 














24 





26 42 


31 


... 


42 


.... 30.3930.65 


30. 53 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 














24 





24 


41 


31.2 




41 


30. 11 30.40 


30. 26 


b.c. 


0. c. 


o. c. d. 


4 

144 


w 



53 



32 


15 


9 


28 


41 


35 




41 


. . . . 2ft 92 8ft 88 


2ft 88 




383 


311 


43.3 








29. 74 



138 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



NOVEMBER, 



Winds. 



First part. 



Middle part. 






NE. 



NE. 
NE. 
NNE. ? 

w. 

NNE. 
E. 
NE. 

NE. 5 

NE. 

5» J 

NE. 

NE. 

ENE. 

{ NE. } 

NE. 

ENE'. 

SE. 

NE. 

ENE. 
E. 
NE. 

E. 

c. < 

NE. 

NE. 5 
NE. 

NE. 

NE. 

NNE. 
NNE. 
NNE. 



1-5 

4-8 
1-2 
1-2 



2 
1-3 
6-7 

i 

4-7 

1 

1-4 

5-9 

1-4 

1-3 

2-4 

9 

10 

1-3 

3-6 

4-5 

2 

2-3 



5 

1.5 

1.3 

1 
2 
2 

6.8 
2.6 

1 

5.7 

1 

2 



2.5 

,J: 

3 i 
9 
10 

1.5 

4.5 
4.5, 

2 
2.2 



ENE. I 

ESE. 5 
ENE. 

NE. ? 

WE. 5 

WNW. 

WNW. 

ENE. 
WNW. 

E. 

NE. 

v. 

ENE. 

ENE. 

ENE. ? 
c. v. j 
NE. ) 

sw. 5 

ENE. 

SE. 



v. 
ENE. 
ENE. 



NE. 

NE. 



1 

4.8 
2.5 
4 



i I: \ 

NE. 

NE. 

NE. 
EXE. 
NNE. 



5-8 

3-4 
1-2 
2-3 



1-3 

5-7 
2 

2-3 

2-5 

1 

2-4 

3-6 

1-3 

1-3 
2-5J 
M 
1-2 
4-6 
1-3 

2-3 



4-5 

2 

2-4 



6.1 



Last part. 



1-3 2.1 



5.7 
2 

2.2 

3.5 

1 

3 

4.4 

2 

2 

3.8 

5.8 

1.5 

5.1 

2.4 

2. 5 "■ 

1 

1 

1 
1 

1 

1 

4.6 

2 



E.to 
NE. 

NE. 

ENE. 
NNW. 

NNE. 

WNW. 

WSW. 

ENE. 

ENE. 
WNW. 

NE. 

NE. 

c. 
NE. 

E. 

E. 

NE. 



NE. 
v. 



NE. 
W. 

NE. 

c. 

NE. 

NE. 
NNE. 
NNE. 
NNE. 



8-1 
1-2 
1-2 

1 

1 
3-6 

2-6 

3-6l 

1-2 

3-7 

1-3 

1 



2-6 

,., 

1-3 

5-10 

1-4 

1-2 
2-6 
1-2 

H 

1 
1 

1-2 
1-2 

,4 

4-5 



1.8 
1.1 



3.5 

1.4 

2.1 
7.8 
2 I 

1.1 
3.5 
1.5 

1.5 

1 

1 

1.2 

1.8 



4.2 
4.8 
2 
2.8 



Hours of calm. 



M 

3.4 

1.6 
1.7 



19 

2.6 

5.5 
2.0 



1.5 
4.4 
2.7 



2 . 
2.8 

3.7....:. 

1.0 2 
3.5....L 



5.3 

2.0.... 1 



1.9 2 

4. 8 ... . 
5.7 



23 .... 

1.0 3 

1.0 .... 

1.1 5 

1. 1 ... . 

2.2 .... 
4. 6 ... . 
2.2 .... 
3. 4 ... . 



2. 76 15 11 



35 



AFFAIRS IX ALASKA. 



139 



1879. 



Weather. 



c.q. 

o. c. q. d. 

b.c. 

b. c. p. 



C. q. 1. 

b. c. q. 
b. c. q. p. 

b.c. 

b. c. q. 

b.c. 

o. c. q. d. 

b.c. 

b. c. m. r. 

o. c. 

b. c. p. 

o. c. q. r. 

o.c. r. 

o. c. 

b. c. q. 

o. c. q. r. 

o.c. 

b.c. 
b. c. m. 
o. c. r. f. 

b.c. 

o. c. r.f. 

o. c. r. 

b. c. q. 
b. c. q. 
b. c. q. 



State of sky. 



Rain. 



o. c q. p. b. 

o. c. p. s. 
o. c. r. 
b.c. 

o.c. 

b. c. p. h. 

o. c. q. 
b. c. m. 

b.c. 

b. c. q. 

b.c. 
o. c. 
be. 

b.c. 

o. c. p. 
o. c. p. h. 

o. c. b. 

o. c. 

o. e. q. r. 

b.c. 
c.q. 
o. c. r. 

b.c. 

b.c. 
b. c. m. 
o. c. d. f. 

b.c. 

o. c. m. d. 

o. c. d. 
b.c. 
b.c. 
b.c. 



o. c. q. d. 

b. c. p. 

b. c. p. 
c. 

o. c. q. r. h. 

b. c. h. 

b. c. q. 
o.c. 

o. c. q. d. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

o. c. q. 

; c. 

• b.c. 

c. p. h. 

o. e. h. 

o. c. q. r. 

o. r. h. 

o. c. p. 

o. c. p. q, 

o. c. r. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

o. c. r. f. 

b.c. 

b. c. p. 

o. c. r. 

c.q. 
b.c. 
b.c. 
b.c. 



-j:; 



Hours of— 



2 ... 





11 2 



6 18 

8 10 

19 108' 

24 
15 

L8 26' 

4 



i 
6 2 

16 32 

1 

15 

14 31 









is 

10 13 
13 11 

18 5 

024 



Ther. 



4 38 

6 40 

43 



24 38 



« 5 19 

0| 24! 

24 

'_'4 



\V«-M»ull. 



46.2 

45.9 41 

42. 8 38 

42.:. 39 

41.2 30 

39.9 38 

45 40 

45.2 43 

44.5 40 

45.6 41 
39.6 34 
39.8 32 
42.4 41 
44 40 



Barometer. 



44. 3 29. 54 29. 



44 


40.4 


36 


43 


40.1 


36 


53 


44.1 


38 


43 


38.4 


35 


51 

,_ 


46.5 


41 



22 7l!362 339 



47 44.6 43 

47 44.2 37 

37 33. 8 

45 40.5 35 

43 41.3 39 

41 37.6 34 

41 38. 6 38 

40 36.9 32 

32 22. 4 - - - 

15 11.6... 

15 12. 7 ... 

39.3 



29.66 

48 45 

46 42. 5 29, 54 29. 67 29. M 

45 42 29. 30 29. 67 . 

43 40. 9 29. 23 29. 55 29. 34 

43 39. 8 29. 60 29. 84 29. 75 

46 43.4 20.14 29.59 29.25 
47 1 44 2 29. 13 28. 58 (29.34 

46 43. 5 28. 97 29. 55 29. 32 

46 43. 6 28. 80 29. Hi. 

48 39 28. 16129. 68J2D. 41 

43 39. 3 28. 76 2ft 58 29. 29 

46 43.8 28.52 28.82 28.66 

49 43. 9 28. 82 29. 30 29. 04 

44 40. 1 29. 33 29. 90 29. 60 
42 39. 8 29. 33 29. 98 29. 79 

29. 18 29 81 29. 46 

29. 86 30. 19 30. 07 
29.8230.1829.97 

30. 00 30. 19 30. 09 

30.10 30.17 30.14 
29. 87 30. 13 29. 86 
30.05 30.25 30.16 



5143. 4 

43^38. 4 
48 45 
46 44 

47J43. 7 

37 



40. 5 



43 41.3 30.22 30.39 30.28 
4137.6 30.38 3(1.. 

4138.630.1130.38 30.23 

40 36. 9 29. 80 30. M 29. 89 

29.68 29.88 29.73 

-. 29.8229.89 

29.74 29.9429 88 






140 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



DECEMBER, 



Winds. 



First part. 



Middle part. 



Last part. 



Hours of calm. 



£ a. 

§ ~ ■= 



N. 
KE. 
NW. 
ENE. 

ENE. 

W. 
W. 



T. 

NE. 
NE. 
E. 

ENE. 

S. 

NE. 

c. 

S. 

SE. 
NE. 

NE. 

NE. 



< Nto } 
i NE. $ 



Nto 

NE. 

c. 

NE. 

N. 

NE. 
NE. 

NE. 

NE. 

NE. 

NNE. 

NW. 
NE. 
SE. 
SW. 
ENE. 
NE. 



4 
3-5 
1-3 
3-5 

4-5 

1 
1 
1 

1-4 

1 

1 

3-6 



1-5 
1 



5-8 
3-8 



1-2 
7-1 



1-2 

1-2 

1-2 

2-3 
1-3 

1-3 

4-7 
1-5 
1-7 

2-5 
1-7 

1 



4.6 



NE. 
ENE. 
ENE. 

WNW 
E. 
W. 

v. 
NW. 

NE. 
NE. 

E. 
ENE. 

E. 

SE. 

NE. 
NE. 



5.5 



1.5 

1.3 



2.1 
1.4 J 

2.6 

5.2 
2.3 
3.3 

3.5 
2.6 

1 



SE. 

NNE. 
NNE. 

E. 

E. 



E. 

NE. 

v. 

c. 

NE. 

c. 

NE. 

ENE. 

v. 

E. 

NE. 

EXE. 

E. 

N. 

NE. 
NE. 

S. 

v. 
NE. 
NE. 



1-2 

3-6 

2-5 
3-4 
1-2 
1 
1-2 
1-2 



1 
5-7 
5-8 
4-6 
2-6 



1! 

1-2 

6-8 

4-5 

6 

2-6 

1 

1 

2-5 

1 
1-2 

1-3 



2-3 

1 

1 

1-2 

3-6 
1 

2-8 

1-4 
1-2 
2-4 
2-3 
1-2 
1-2 



1.5 

4.5| 

3.8 

3.5 

1.5 

1 

1.5 

1.3 



1 
6 

7.3 
5.2 

4 



1 

1 

1.5 

4.1 

1 



1.7 

1.2 

3 

2.3 

1.4 

1.4 



EXE. 
EXE. 

EXE. 

W. 

c. 
X.E. 

EX'E. 

c. 
XXE. 

v. 

EX T E. 

SE. 

S. 

XE. 

c. 

NE.to 

SW. 

S. 

NNE. 

X. 
X'XW. 
ENE. 

X'. 

NE. 



NE. 

NE. 

NNE. 

NE. 

EXE. 
XE. 

N. 

W. 
X'E. 
ESE. 

X~E. 



XE. 



2-6 

5-6 

4-5 

1 

1 
1 

1 

1-2 

1 
5-8 

5-6 

5-8 

1 

2-5 

5-7 
2-5 
3-5 

2-3 

1 

1-8" 
1-2 

1 

1-2 

1 



5.7 

3.2 

4 

2.5 

1 
1 
4 



1.3 



1-4 


2.1 


1-3 


1.7 


1-8 


5.7 


4-6 


5 


1-2 


1.2 


1-4 


2.2 


1-3 


1.6 


1-2 


1.5 


1-3 


1.6 



3.2 
4.5. 
4.1. 
3.1. 

1 I 
1.4 
1.2 
1.2 

i. 

6.3 

2 

1.8 

6 
5 

3.1 



1.1 
1.2 
1.7 
1.2 



1. 7 ... . 
3. 4 ... . 



1.1.... 




2. 9 


.... 1 1 


1. 3 ... . 

1 4.7.... 


12 3 


1 \ 
2. 7 




1.9 




2. 5 




1.9.... 
1.3 1 


.... 2 2 
1 



2.6 10 10 20 40 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



141 



1879. 



Weather, 



State of sky. 


Rain. 


Hours of— 


Ther. 


Wet bulb. 


Barometer. 


3 


i 

p. 
£ 


3 

P. 


X 

w 


rd 

| 

= 
-*> 
g 
a 

o 

a 
4 


'5 
~ 

u 

o 

? 

o 
H 


o 

if. 

= 


O 

pa 


I 

s 

> 


1 


g 

= 


1 

9 

> 
< 


= 
= 


g 

= 




I 

3 


= 


< 


b. c. q. 


b.c. 


o. c. q. 8. 







4 





O o 

14 9 17 29 


O ' 

24. 4 .... 






0. c. s. 


o. c. q. s. 


o. c. q. 







11 





24 20 


41 


34. 5 . . . 39 -JO. 23 


29. 38 


29. 29 


o. c. q. 


o.c. q. s. 


o. c. q. r. s. 


3 




4 





24 36 


42 39.5 36 40 38.3 29.24 


29. 34 




o. c. q. s. 


b.c. 


o.c. 





9 


1 





13 11 33 


43 38.4 32 4137.5 29.27 


29.37 


29. 33 


b. c. p. 
o. c. s. 
0. c. f. 


b.c. 

0. c. 

b. c. s. 


b.c. 
0. c. 
b.c. 


oL. 

0... 



<i 
3 




1 

4 


14 10 27 

1 23 27 

18 5 29 


38 32. 5 . . . 38 ... . l'9. 33 
33 30. 7 - - - 32 ... . 29. 72 
36 30. 9 - - - 32 ... . 29. 73 


29. 94 
29. 94 


29. 85 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 


0... 








22 2 24 


34 29. 3 - . . 


32 


.... 29. 73 29. 80 


20. 78 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 


0... 








24 22 


30 24.5-.- 




.... 29. 80 30. 06 




b. c. 


o. e. q. s. 


0. C. q. S. 


... 


12 





6 18 23 


38 31.2 




35 


...29.3130.06 




•o. c. q. 


o. c. q. r. 


o. c. q. r. 


18 45 








23 38 


43 -10.9 


38 


42 


40. 2 29. 33 29. 67 29. 42 


•o. c. q. v. 


o. c. w. f. 


o. c. r. 


11 


39 


' 


8 


8 16 


35 


40 


37.5 


34 


40 37. 4 29. 70 29. 94 29. 81 


b.c. 


o. c. f. 8. 


o. c. q. r. 


9 


7 


7 


10 


4 20 


33 


40 


36 


33 


40 36 29. 55 29. 93 _'9. 7»: 


o. c. q. r. h. 


o. c. q.r. 


o. c. q. r. s. 


14 


108 


10 





24 


34 


42 


39 


33 


41 38. 6 29. 44 29. 64 29. 52 


o. c. q. s, 


o. c. q. 


b. c. q. 





... 


8 





10 14 


19 


31 


25 






.... 29. 60 30. 09 29. 85 


b.c. 


b. c. q. 


b.c. 










9 


24 


17 


26 


20. 5 


... 


... 


.... 30. 11 30. 40 30. 29 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b. c. q. 
b.c. 
b.c. 













24 


20 


32 


•>:\ i 








30. 27 30. 42 30. 35 


b.q. 


b.c. 

0. C 8. 










3 





1 
21 3 


20 


33 27.5 

34 29.2 


■" 






30. 32 30. 66 30. 51 


o. c. 


7 17 26 


... 


32 





30. 05 30. 61 30. 31 


b.c. 


b. 


b. 













24 21 


34 26.5--- 




30.00 30.17 30.06 


b. 


b.c. 


b. 













24 18 


28 20.8 ... 




30. 11 30. 44 30. -IS 


b.c. 


0. C 8. 


0. C. 8. 







6 





12 


12 


21 


35 


,0 


... 


32 





30. 35 30. ; 


b.c. 


o. c. d. m. 


0. c. p. 


6 3 


2 


.7 


4 


20 


33 


3H 


35.6 32 


38 


35. 2 30. 38 30. 49 


30.44 


o. c.r. 
o. c. r. 


o. c. q. r. f. 
b. c. m. 


o. c. d. m. 

0. C 8. 


21 26 
10 46 


1 

7 


13 

5 



7 


24 
16 


36 

34 


40 
40 


38.2; 36 
37.4 34 


40 
40 


38. 1 29. 77 30. 39 
37. 4 29. 58 -'0. 74 


30. 02 
29.64 


o. c. s. 


b. c. q. 


b.q. 


oL 


3 


1 


20 


4 


22 


33 


28. 6 - - - 


33 


... 29. 61 29. 95 


29. 74 


b.q. 

0. C. 8. 


b.c. 
0. c. s. 


b.c. 
o. c. r. s. 


o... 

1 14 



21 







22 



2 
24 


21 
29 


29 
38 


24.8... 
34. 4 . . - 


*37 


.... 30.00 30. 16 
.... 29. 44 30. 05 


80.11 


-0. c. p. S. 


o. c. q. r. s. 


o. c. s. 


2 47 


21 





ll 20 


32 


36 


34.4 32 


::t»34. 2 29. 17 29. 40 




o. c. h.s. 

b. C 9. 


o. c. s. 

o. c. s. 


O. C 8. 
0. C. 8. 


974IS 


22 
14 

1GG 




1 

54 


1 23 
7 16 

332 405 

1 


32 

24 


34 
31 


32.5 32 

27. 7 ... 

31.15 


33 


32.3 29.1129.49 
... 29.02 29. IS 


29.41 
1\). 10 

2\l SO 



142 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



JANUARY, 





Winds. 




First part. 


Middle part. 


Last part. 


00 



I 

& 

© 

t 

> 

-< 


Hours of calm. 




© 

© 


© 

2 


© 

1 

© 

> 
< 


« 

© 
P 


2 


© 

2 
© 

I 

© 


a 
s 

"-3 
© 
© 

s 


© 
© 


© 

2 

© 

© 
> 
•4 


i 

Pi 

t 


i 

P. 

-© 


i 

- 


■3 
4a 


H 


i 


C S. 
i NE. 

NE. 

NNE. 

N. by E. 

NE. 

NE. 

NE. 

NE. 
C SE. 
1 W. 

NE. 

NE. 

W. 

ENE. 

NE. 
S. 

w. 

\ c. J 
C NE. 
1 SE. 
( SE. 
} ENE. 

\ ENE. 5 

ENE. 

NE. 

\ NE. 

NE. 
NE. 

NE. 

NE. 

S. 

.NE. 

ENE. 

ESE. 


4-5 


4.5 


] NE. 

N. 
NNE. 


1-4 

6-7 
5-7 


3 
6.1 


NE. 
W. hv E. 


2-6 

6-8 
3-5 
1-2 
3-4 
2-6 
2-7 
1-3 

2-6 

1-2 
1 

1-2 
6 

1-2 
1 


4.2 3.6 








?, 


2-5 

4-7 5. 8 


6.4 

4.5 

1.8 

3.6 

3.5 

4 

1.5 

4.7 

1.5 

1 


6.1 










8 


6-8 
1-6 
1-2 


7 
4 
1.1 


8 5 "NTNr 


5.9 

2.8 

1.2 

3 

3.5 

3.2 

4 

1.5 

\ ^? 








4 


NE. 2-4. 3 ! NNE. 
NE. 1-3 2 1 NE. 










5 










6 


2-4| 3 
2-6, 3 
2-6! 4 

1-21 1. 5 
5-7 6 
1-41 2 


NE. 1-3 


2. 5 NE. 
3 NNE. 
3 










7 


NNE. 
NE. 

] NW. 

NE. 
NE. 

NNW. 

ENE. 
W»W. 
SSW. 

\ W. 
NE. 

1 * 

J NE. 

E. 

E. 

S. 

NE. 
SE. 

NE. 
NNE. 

{ N c E - } 
E. 

sw. 

E 


2-4 
2-4 

1-5 

1 

1 










fl 










9 


3.4 

1 
1 


NNE. 

NE. 
C NE. 
> NW. 
C WNW. 
} NE. 

E. 

c. 

S. 

w. 

NE. 
NE. 

E. 
{ v. } 

SW. 

s. 

NE. 

NE. 
NE. 

NNE. 

E. 

NE. 

ENE. 

E. 
v. 










10 










11 


1-2 

1-3 

1-3 
1-2 
1-8 

1-4 

3-4 

1 

2 

4-5 

1-2 

1 

4-6 
1-4 
1-1 
2 
1-4 
1-2 

1 

1-2 

3 7 


1.5 

1.6 

1.7 
1.2 
5.5 

2.1 

3.3 

1 
2 

4.5 
1.2 

1 

4.9 

2 

3.4 

2 

2.1 

1.1 

1 

1.3 
5 










12 
13 


1-6 3 
1-3 2 
1 1 
8 8 
1-3 2 
3-5 3. 4 

1-3 1. 6 

2-7| 4. 4 

1 1 
1-5 3. 1 

2-6 4. 1 
3-7 4. 5 
2-4 3.4 
3-5 4 
1-2 1. 1 
1 1 

1 1 

1-3 1. 2 

3-6 4. 6 

9 :S 4 


1. 5 3 

L < } 2 -' 

11 1.6 


.... 


1 




1 


14 




1.1 

6.4 






6 6 


15 


4-8 
1-2 
1-2 

1-3 
1-7 

1 

3-6 

3-4 
2-8 
3-7 

1-4 

1 
1 

1-2 

"I 


5.7 








16 


1.2 ) 9 
1.2 5 - 

1.6 2 
4. 1 3. 3 
,1 X, 








17 


3 






3 


Ifl 










19 




1 1 


°0 


1 








31 


3.7 

5 

5.2 

2.3 

1 
1 

1.6 

6.1 
1 


'47 

3.9 
2.9 






j 


09 










?,1 










?4 


1.5 

1 
1.1 

3 
3.7 










•~> r > 








26 

27 


2 

iL„. 


... 
1 


1 

1 


oq 


12 1-7 


1-4 


2.6 






30 

31 


1 
3-4 


1 

3.2 


{ A. \\ M 3 - 2 

C E. i 3 3 
1 S. S 4-7 6 


3-8 
1-4 


6.2 
2 


3.6 
3.6 


1 3 


























2.9 6 6 S 20 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



ll:; 



1880. 



Weather. 



o. c. q. s. 

b. c. q. 
o. c. q. 
b. c. q. 

b. c. 

b.c. 

b. 

b. c. q. 

b. c. q. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

o. c. s. 

b.c. 

o. c. q. 8. 

O. C 8. 

b.c. 
o.c.s. 
o. c. r. 

o. c. p. 

o. c. q. r. 
o. c. s. 

b. c. q. h. s. 

b. c. q. s. 
b.c. 

b.c. 

{ ll I 

o. c. q. h. r. s. 
o. c. 

o. c. d. m. 
o. c. q. r. m. 



State of sky. 



b. c. s. 

b. c. q. 
o. c. q. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

b. c. q. 
b.c. 

b. c. s. 

b. c. q. 

o. c s. 

o. c. s. 

b. c. q. h. s. 

b.c. 

b. c. q. s. 

o. c. q. m. s. 

o. c. f. r. s. 

o. c. q. d. m. s 

o. c. q. r. 
o. c. q. h. s. 

b. c. s. 

b.c. 
b.c. 

b.c. 

0. C. 8. 

■b.c. q. b. r.s. 
o. c. q. f. r. s. 

o. c. r. m. 
o. c. q. h. r. s. 



b. c. q. 

b. c. q. 
b.c. q. 
b. c. s. 

b.c. 
b. c. q. 
b. c. q. 

b.c. 

b. c. q. 
b.c. 
b.c. 

b. c. q. 

o. c. s. 

o. c. s. 

o. c. q. b. s. 

b.c. 

o. c. q. s. 

o. c. q. r. s. 

o. c. f.r. s. 

o. c. q. r.m. 

o. c. q. r. s. h. 
b. c. q. h. a. 

b. c. s. 

b.c. 
b.c. 

b.c. 

o. c. q.s. 

b. c. s. 
o. c. q. r. 

o. c. q. r. 
o. c. q. r. s. 



Kain. 



Hours of— 



Ther. 



HS 4 

a 



12102 

16 t 12 

17| 46 




0... 

a... 

9 56 
17 60 

13 70 



11 

o . <o 



874IJ213 



8. 11 



Wet bulb. Baron 



1 ? 



21 

01 24 
19 



16 
) 9 




18 
0—3 
0—7 






26 18. 
11 



5 § 



6.4 



-1 
-1 

3J 2 

8 

3 11 

2 16 

23 18 
18 21 
9 27 

13 

11 



14 



2 21 
24 



1 23 



8, 5. 
4 0. 
1—3. 
9—0. 
4 0. 

6 1 
19 13. 

19 12. 

23 17 



1 


15 


26 


1 8' 24 


ie| 4 

24 


13 

11 


24 





9 


4 


20 


10 


5 
1 


15 

23 


31 
33 





24 


38 





24 


35 


361 


329 



34' 38 

I 
35 39 

30 40 
31 



22 

27 

25.3 

30 

23.1 
21.5 
32.5 



37.3 

37 
28.4 

25.6 

20.8 
16.1 

14 



1629. 

19 29. 
22 29. 
37 29. 
77 29. 
69 29. 
60 29. 
76 29. 

60 29. 

30. 



29. 

29. 

29. 87 30. 



25 29. 

42 29. 
40 29. 
.4 2!). 
87 29. 
8029. 
75 29. 
89 29. 
84 29. 
03 29. 
05 29. 



29. 44 29. 89 29. 58 

29. 28 29 56 29. 47 

28. 84 29. 25 29. 03 

28.9129.40 29.1.') 

29. 28 29. 60 29. 38 
29.50 29.91 29. 7'. 



21.2 

37 34.7 
39, 36. 6 

41 38.6 
10 38.2 



.... 29. 24 29. 85 29. .V. 



34 38 36.3 29.12 29.35 29.23 

i 
34 39,37. 2 29. 34 29. 59 29. 43 

40.... 28.7129.45 29. 12 

..;.... 29.30 29.49 29.43 



.29. 39 29. 50 29. 40 

. 29. 21 29. 47 29. 33 
. 29. 51 29. 84 29. 68 
.29.8930.13(29.96 

. 29. 56 30. 16 29. % 
9 



37 ... . 29. 60 29. 93 29. 
33 39 36. 3 29. 59 29. 93 29. 



20.6 



38 41 38. 5 29. 50 29. 80 29. 68 
35 40 38. 2 29. 50 30. 2* 



29 57 



144 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



FEBRUARY, 



Winds. 



First part. 



NE. 
E. 
c. 

ENE. 



NE. 

c. 

SW. 

NE. 

ENE. 
SW. 

NE. 
SW. 

NE. 
ESE. 

ssw. 

SSE. 



{ s l 



c. 
E 

NNE. 

NE. 
NE. 
NE. 

ENE. 

E. 

NE. 



1 

1-2 

1-2 



1 
1-2 

1 

1-2 
2-4 

1 
1 

1-3 

4-7 

3-7 

3-6 
3-4 

1-2 

1-4 

1-2 

2-9 

1-4 

1-2 

1-4 
1 



Middle part. 



1 
1.2 

1.2 



1.4 
6.1 

5.5 

4.6 
3.7 

1.4 

3 

1.3 

6 



2.1 

1 



1-5 1. 6 



w. 


1-5 


3.5 


SE. 


5-7 


5.7 


SW. 


4-5 


4.5 


wsw. 


4-9 


7.1 


NE. 


1-3 


1.5 


NE. 


4-7 


) 


SE. 


8 


}5.2 


WSW. 


3-4 


s 


W. to 

NE. 


1-2 


1.5 


NE. 


1-2 


1.6 



ENE. 
c. 
v. 



c. 
W. 

NE. 
SE. 

SW. 



W. 

NE. 

S. 
SSW. 
SW. 

s. 

ENE. 

ENE. 

NE. 
v. 

ENE. 
NE, 



{ ?" } 

NE. 

E. 

< SE. to } 

\ SSW. 5 



WSW. 



C NNE. \ 
) to.SSE. 5 



W. 



v. 
NE. 



1-4 

1-3 



1-2 

1-2 

5 

1-3 
1-3 

1-2 

7 
5-6 
1-4 
3-7 

2-4 



4-6 

1-4 

7-8 
2-5 
1-2 



1-3 
2-5 



2 
1.6 



1-2 
2-3 

3 1 

1-3 

1-3 ; 

2-3 ' 



1-2 



Last part. 



1-2 1. 7 



1.7 
1.7 

5 

2.1 

1.7 

1.5 

7 

5.5 
2.8 
4.7 

3 



1-4 3.4 



1.6 

2.7 
3.2 
1 
2 

1.8 
2.7 



1.4 
1 



6.6 
3.5 
1.1 



3-5 4. 3 



2 

3.1 



ENE. 

SE. 

NE. 

c. 

ENE. 

NE. 

v. 

C. 

E. 

SW. 

NNE. 
W. to 
NNE. 
ENE. 

SE. 
SW. 

SSE. 

s. 

v. 
ENE. 

NE. 
NE. 
NE. 

NE. 

NE. 



NE. 
E. 

SW. 

SW. 
E. 



NNE. 

NE. 

v. 

SW. 

SW. 

NE. 



1-2 

1-4 



1-2 

1-2 
1-2 

1-4 

1-2 

3-5 

5 

7.8 

6-7 

3-6 



]-4 
1-2 
4-9 

1-4 

1-2 



1 
1 

1-4 

3-4 
3-4 



1-2 
1-3 
1-2 



1-4 
1-4 

1 

1 



1.4 

1.5 
1.3 



1.7 

4.2 
5 

7.5 
6.5 

4 



2.3 
1.5 
7.1 

2.1 

1.5 

1 

1 
1 

2.1 

3.7 

3.8 



WSW. ! 7-8 7.7 



1.4 

2 
1.7 



1-5 3. 1 



1 
1-5 



1.5 
1.4 

1.3 

1.6 

1 

1 2 
1.6 

[2 

1.6 



Hours of calm 



6.2 

;4.7 

2.7 

2.4 

2 

3.8 

3.5 

2 

1.1 
1.5 
1 
3. 

[3.1 
6.8 
3.1 

\i, 

4.2 

1.4 

2.4 

2.5 



(M i 



23 17 



1 
. 1 



16 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 






1880. 



Weather. 


State of sky. 


Kain. 


Hours of— 


Ther. 


Wet-bulb. 


Barometer. 


t 

1 


1 

p. 

9 


t 

Pn 

to 

« 


i 

- 
© 
w 


-3 

J 

a 

a 

1 


4 

i 


■s 

a 

o 




I 

> 



a 

a 
a 
a 


Maximum. 

Average. 


i 

- 

= 
5 


B 

a 

J 

H 

* 

o 
40 


8 
< 


4 

a 
a 

= 


= 

= 
= 

i 


< 


o. c. p. m. 


o. c. p. m. 


o. c. r. m. 


15 


25 





13 





24 




35 


o o 
40 37.9 


o 

35 


37. 9 30. 27 30. 55 30. 45 


b. c. m. 


o. c. r. m. 


o. c. r. m. 


16 62 

1 


9 


3 


20 34 41 38.1 34 


40 38 30.43 30.58 30.53 


o. c. r. 


o. c. r. 


o. c. r. m. 


20 49 

1 


5 





24 39 41 


39.9 39 


41 39. 9 30. 50 30. 58 30. 54 


o. c. r. 


o. c. r. in. f. 


b. c. m. 


11 22 


12 


2 


21 36 43 


39. 8 36 


43 39. 8 30. i3 30. 55 30. 46- 


b. c. m. 


b. c. f. 


b. c. 


il. 


9 


17 


7 29 40 33.2 ... 


40 ... 29. 06 30. 43 30. 27 


b. c. 


b.c 


b. c. 








21 


3 25 41 32.6 




41 .... 29. 99 30. 24 30. 08 


b. c. 


C b. c. I, 
I o. c. q. s. 5 
b. c. m.h. r. s. 


o. c. r. s. 


2 14 


7 


13 


11 23[ 37 30. 5 




36 .... 29. 89 30. 24 30. 10 


o. c. r. h. 


o. c. h. 8. 


5 6.3 


9 8 


6 


9 33 39 35.6 


33 


39 35. 6 29. 81 29. 98 29. 94 


b. c. 


o. c. 


b. c. 


... 







16 


8 25 39 32.6 




39 


.... 29. 36 


32. 80 29. 40 


b. c. 


b.c. 


0. c. s. 








16 


8 20 35 28.4 




35 

Jo 


.... 29.54 


29. 85 29. 74 


o. c. q. s. 


b. c. q. p. h. s. 


o. c. q. b. s. 




23 


22 


2 


12 32 37 34.2 


32 


37 


34. 2 29. 23 


29. 61 29. 31 


o. c. q. h. s. 


b. c. q. b. s. 


o. c. q. p. h. a. 






24 





15 28 36 31.5 


... 


36 


.... 29. 31 


29. 57 29. 42 


o. c. q. h. s. 


b. c. 8. 


b. c. 8. 






16 


7 


16 22 31 27.7 

1 | 


... 




... 29.31 


29. 58 29. 44 




b. c. 
b.c. 
0. c. 


b. c. 

b. 

o. c. q. s. 




-• 


4 

9 


18 
24 
8 


6 21 30 25.1 
10 9« it a 








29.33 
29.78 
29.35 


29.75 
30.20 
30. 22 


29. 50 


b. c. 
b. c. 






30. 00 


16 10 


29 21.7 




.... 


29. 92 


o. c. q. 8. 


b. C. 8. 


b.c. 






6 


14 12 27 


38 30.6 




38 


....29.13 


29.66 


29. 32' 


b. c. 


•b. c 


b.c. 




... 






21 


36 27.4 




36 


....29.68 


30.09 


29. 96 


b. C. 8. 

o. c. r. s. 
o. c. m. r. s. 

o. c. r. 


o. c. d. s. 

o. c. s. 
b. c. m. f. 

o. c. q.m. t. h. 


0. c. d. 8. 

o. c. r. s. 
o. c. r. 

o. c. p. s. 


16 
11 

13 


67 
115 

111 


20 

8 
2 

8 






8 

6 


3 



8 

1 


n 

24 
16 

i- 


28 

35 

35 

33 


40 33.6 

42 37.5 
45 38.6 

41 38.5 


35 

35 

3i 


40 

42 

45 

41 


....29.79 

37. 5 29. 58 
38.6 29.45 

38. 4 29. 30 


30. 05 

29.74 

29. 79 

29. :.i 


30. 00- 
29.65- 
•_'J. 68 

29. 40. 


b. c. p. 8. 


b.c. 


0. C. 8. 


1 




14 


9 


9 


29 


36 33 


... 36 


.... 29. 57 


29.76 


29.68- 


o. c. q.b. r. s. 

b. c. q.p.h.8. 

b.c 

o. c. q. e. 


o. c. q. p. h. s. 
b. c. 
b.c. 

o. c. q. b. s. 


o. c. q. p. h s. 
b. c. 


5 


30 


18 
3 ( 



18 
14 


20 

1 

10 


30 
9 
8 


37 33.9 
30 22.6 
28 18.7 


... 37 
....... 


.... 29. 30 
.... 29. 66 
... 30.27 


29. 64 

;h>. 45 
30 62 


29. 48- 
30.077 

30, 51 


b. c. q. h. s. 






21 





3 


10 


28 


38 33.7 




38 




29.98 


30.16 


30. 03 


o. c. p. b. 8. 


o. C. 8. 

b.c. 


b. c. m. 8. 
b.c. 






19 



224 
1 


3 



74 


2 
24 

273 


22 


362 


28 
12 


37 32 
32 20.8 




37 




29.62 
29.63 


30.05 
29.93 


20. 78 


b.c. 


He 


m 




31.3 








29. n 


a 


Pv 71 


10 

































146 



AFFAIRS IX ALASKA. 



MARCH 





Winds. 




First 


part. 


Middle part 




Last part. 


o 

| 

- 


Hours of calm. 


6 

p 


p 

5 


a 
3 
ft 


6 

8 

s 

> 


j 

O 
© 

fi 


a 

- 


6 
o 

a 

> 
< 


© 

£ 

fi 


- 
1 


. 

O 

a 

* 

z 
> 

< 


- 


P. 

- 
— 

* 


| 

fi 


- 
H 


1 


XXE. 

E. 

XE 

XE. 

XE. 

XE. 
( W. > 
\ C. ^ 

E. 

SW. 
C WSW. 
i XE. 

XXE. 
{ ? } 


1-6 2. 7 
1-2 1.4 

2-4 3 
3-8 6 
1-6 2.6 

1-7 A- 


C XXE. 
i E. 

{ i 1 

XE. 

EXE. 

E. 

E. 

C XE. > 

) c. 5 

XE. 

SW. 

v. 

T. 

X SSW. 5 
C XE.to ( 
* SSW. 5 

s. 

C XXE. 

X w. 

s. • 

SW. 

SE. 

SSE. 
C E. 
X XE. 

SSE. 

SSW. 
C E. 

X w. 

c wxw. 

} NNE. 

c xw. 

J X. 
EXE. 

XXE. 

NNE. 

< i; 

XXE. 

] SSW. [ 
( EXE. $ 


1 
1-3 

1-2 

2-3 
1-2 

1-3 

5-8 

1 

1-3 
3-4 
1-2 

1-2 

1-2 

1-3 

1 

1-2 

1 

1-3 

1-2 

1-6 

5-7 
2-3 
5-S 
2-7 
4-7 
1 
2-3 
1^ 
2-3 
3-4 
2-6 
2-3 
2-3 

4-5 

1-3 
1-3 
1-3 
1-3 

1-3 


1.6 

2.3 
1.6 
2 

7 

1 

1.6 
3.9 
1.1 

1.1 

1.1 

1.8 

1 
1.5 


! 
I 

! 
I 
1 


XXE. 

X'. 

EXE. 

XE. 

XE. 

SE. 

E.to { 

SSW. 5 
XE. 

SSW. 
WSW. 

XXE. 

XE. 
v. 

X"E. i 

XXE. 
W. 

v. 

v. 

X*E. 
SE. 

S. 

SE. 

SW. 

XXE. 

XXE. 

X'W. 

XE. 
XE. 
XXE. 
ENE. 

E. 

XE. 

XXE 

X"E. 

XE. 


1-3 

1-3 

1-3 
1-3 
1-4 
2-6 

1-4 

1 

1-4 
2-6 

1-2 

1 

1 

1 
1-2 

2 

2 
1-2 

1-3 

3-6 
7-8 
3-6 

1-6 

2-7 

1 

1-2 

1-6 

1-4 
2-6 
2-3 

4-5 

1 

1-2 

1-3 

1-2 

1-3 


2 
1.7 

2 

1.6 

4 

2 

2.2 5 
4.3 

1.5 

1 
1 

\ } 

1.4 
2 

w 

1.6 
4.2? 
7.6 5 
5.5 

3.2 
4.1 

i 

1.2 

3 

2.6 
3.4 

2.3 I 
4.2$ 

1.5 } 

2 
1.5 

2 


1.8 

1.5 

2.4 
3.2 

2.1 
5 

2.2 

1.6 
4.1 
1.4 

1.1 

1.1 

1.3 

1.2 

1.3 

1.5 

2-1 

3.3 

0. 

3 " 
4.2 
L, 

1.6 








2 
9 


.... 


3 


.... 


3 


4 




















fi 


i 

2 
2 






1 

5 

■-> 


7 

8 


2-6 

1-2 

3-6 
1-2 
1-2 

1-2 

1 

1 
1-2 




3.6 

1.5 

4.1 

1:?} 

Li 

1 

1.2 


3 


.... 


q 








10 

n 

12 
13 
14 
15 


1 

2 

2 
3 
6 

8 

1 

.... 

3 


1 

i 

2 
2 

1 


3 
3 

1 

1 


1 

5 
1? 


161 c. 






L. 

r 

2.4 > 

6.3 5 
4.3* 
5.2> 
1 * 
2.3 5 
2.5* 
2.6 5 
3.7? 
4.2 5 
2.3 
•2.7 j 

4 6 


9 


17 $ - S ?- 


2-5 
2-3 

1-2 

4-7 

1 

2-4 
3-5 

2-4 

1 

4-5 

1-4 
4-6 

2-4 

2-5 

l-'z 
1-3 

1-2 


3.5) 
2.7 5 
1.1 
5.2 

3, 

4 

3.6 

1 

4.3 

1.8 

5.5 

31 

3.7 

,.2 
2 

1.4 


1 


18 
19 
20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

25 
26 

27 

28 

29 
30 

31 


? WSW. 
XXE. 

S. 

i NE. S 
S X'E. 
* SSE. 

EXE. 
XXE. 

X xw. 5 

NE. 
X T E. 

X'XE. 

XE. 

E 

XXE. 

XXE. 


. 


1 
1 


1 
3 

1 

1 
1 
3 

4 


3 


1 


3.3 

2.3 
3.9 

3.7 

2.3 

1.8 
1.8 

2 


2 


2 


.... 


















2 
2 

2.1 
2 

2.5 





































2. 44 36 


17 16 69 



AFFAIRS IX ALASKA. 



1 17 



1830, 



Weather. 


State of sky. 


Rain. 


Hours of— 


Ther. 


Wet-bull). 


bin ometei . 




fH 






u 

a 

ng 
a 


i 


43 
























i 

OB 


S 


1S 

1-5 


1 


a a 

is 


a 
s 

c 




+i 
r. 

a 

■- 

5 

> 
O 


a \ 

2 a 
1 1 

.a 1 

3 a 


d 

► 
< 


i = 

1 | 

1 B 


6 

-. 
- 
3 
> 
< 


a 
a 
a 
i 


a 

a 
= 

9 


- 
- 


















O 


O 


o 











b.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 


o... 


o 


24 


8 27 


15. 3 . . . 




29. 61 29. 95 29. 75 


b.c. 


b.c. 

b.c. 

o. c. 

b.c. 

o. c. q. h. s. 


b.c. 

c. 

b. c. q. 

b.c. 

o. c. q. s. 


... 

... 


o o 

n 


24 

18 
3 

24 

1 


: 
9 33 

3 13 27 

21 17 33 


18.6 

20 
24.1 








29. 61 29. 74 29. 67 
29.48 29. 75 •_'!*. .,-, 
29. 25 29. 40 29. 33 
29. 50 30. 02 29. 79 
29. 24 29. 97 29. 55 


b.c. 








o. c. q. s. 
b.c. 

o. c. q. s. 


0... 5 o 
0... o 
... 20 o 








10 29 17.8 
23 13 34 26.4 




34 





o. c. q. s. 


b. c. q. s. 


b. c. q. s. 


°~n ' 


4 


11 30 40 34.6 ... 40 


29. 37 30. 1829. 90 


o. c. s. 


o. c. r. s. 


o. c. m. r. s. 


10 ... 12 ( G 





24 35 40 36. 8 35 4o' 36. 830. 05 30. 19 30. 10 


o. c. q. r. s. 


b. c. m. 


o. c. q. m. s. 


1 


2 11 11 3 20 33 


40 37.1 33 


40 36.9 30.18 30.49 30.33 


b. c. s. 


b.c. 


b.c. 







2 22 2 22 


44 33.5... 

I 1 


44 30. 49 30. 90'30. 71 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b.e. 







o 22 2 21 


44 31.3 ... 


43! 30.79 30.92 30.88 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 







20 4 31 


45 36. 8 . . . 


45 


30. 64 30. 74 30. 68 

1 


b.c. 


b.c. 


o. c. s. 







2 17 7 30 


46 37.4 


... 


1 
46 

| 


30. 42 30. 65 30. 52 

1 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 









24 29 


50 37.6 




49 30.4130.50 30.46 


o. c. m. r. 


o. c. d. m. 


o. m. f. 


9 




2 18 


24 35 


49 39.7 

| 


35 


48 39. 5 30. 09 


30. 41 30. 21 


o. c. m. f. 


o. c. f. 


o. c. f. r. s. 


8 


4 


1 12 


4 20 36 


45 39.5 


36 


45. 39.5 


29.75 


30. 07 29. 95 


o. c. r. s. 


b. c. p. 


b. c. d. 


7 


22 


i 1 


7 9 36 


44 38.7 


36 


44 1 38.7 


29.68 


29. 94 29. 79 


o. c. m. f. 


o.c. q. r. s. 


. o. c. q. r. 


10 


... 


3 7 


24 35 


47 39.2 


35 


46 39 


29.76 


30. 05 29. 95 


o. c. q. h. r. s. 


o. c. q. p. b. 


o. c. q. b. r. s. 


1 


43 


20, 


19 35 


43 38.1 


35 


43 38 


29.76 


30. 01 29. 88 


0. C. 8. 


o. c. q. r. s. 


o. c.q.d.b.s.m. 


1 


33 


19 2 


24 34 


44 37.2 


34 


44 


37.1 


29.50 


30. 00 20. 74 


o. c s. 


o. c. q. s. 


o. c. p. q. h. s. 


1 


47 


20 


3 21 33 


39 35.5 


33 


38 


35.2 


29.46 


29.83 29.64 


CCS. 


o. c. s. 


b.c. 







13 





8 


16 28 44 


35 




44 




29.85 


29. 98 29. 90 


b. 


b.c. 


b.c. 













24 


23 


42 


29.8 




41 




29.45 


29. 86 29. 61 


b. 


b.c. 


b.c. 













24 


20 


36 


27.2 




35 




29.37 


29. 51 29. 43 


b. c. 


b.c. 
c.q. 

b.c. 


b.c. 
b. c. q. 
















24 

18 


14 
6 21 


39 
35 


25.6 

26.2 








29.31 
29. 04 


29.48)29.43 


b. c. q. 








29. 35 29. 19 


b.c. 


b. c. q. 


... 








24 


22 


35 


26.8 








29.35 


29. 83 29. 61 


b. c. q. 


b.c. 


b.c. 


1 

... 


o 





24 





21 


42 


29.9 




40 





29. 80 


30. 02 29. 92 


b.c. 
b.c. 


b.c. 
b.c. 


b. c. 
b.c. 


... 
0... 

j 





23 
24 






21 
16 


38 

45 


28.1 
29.6 




37 

43 





29. 90 

30.08 


30. 08 30. 03 
30. 18 30. 14 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 


J... 






58 


24 

437 




280 


21 


50 


34 




49 




Ml lti 


30. 23 30. 19 




48 


m 


148 


31.1 


29. 98 



148 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



APRIL, 



Winds 




First part. 



10 



c. 

E. 

nnw. 

c. 

\ NNE. 
SE. 
E. 

E. by S. 

NE. 

ENE. 

SE. 

SE. 
NE. 
W. 
SE. 



c. 



NE. 

NNE. 
ENE. 

NXE. 

NE. 

c. 

v. 

NE. 

ENE. 



c. 



c. 

NNE. 
v. 
SE. 

NE. 



{ *?■• } 



c. 

c. 

c. J 
SW. 5 

E. 



1-2 

1 



5-0 
6-8 
1-5 



1 

1 

1-2 

1 



1 
1-5 

1-3 

1-6 

1 

1-3 

2 
2 



1 

1 

1 

2-5 



1 
3-5 



Middle part. 



Last part. 



1 
1.5 



1 
3 

5.5 
6.8 



1-4 1.7 



1 

3.2 
1.8 
3 

1 

1.8 



1 
3.5 



E. 

N. 
SE. 
SW. 

ssw. 

s. 

SSE. 
NE. 

NE. 



SSW. 



o. 
E. 

W. 

W. 
E. 
E 

wsw. 

ENE. 

NNE. 

NE. 

SW. 

E. 

ENE. 

W. 

s. 
w. 

c. 
W. 

E. 

W. 

SSW. 

. SW. 
W. 

w. 

c. 
E. 



1 
2-4 
1-2 
1-3 



2-5 

3-4 
2-5 

2-3 

1-3 

2-5 

1-3 

1-3 

1-3 
2-3 





1-2 


1.3 




3-4 
3-6 


3.2 
4.2 




5-7 


6.1 




6-8 
3-9 


7 
6 




1-2 


1.7 




3 


3 


1 


1-3 


2 




2-4 


3 




4-5 
2-4 
1-2 
3-4 
4-5 


4.2 

3 

1.5 

3.2 

4.4 




3-4 


3.9 




3-6 


4 




1-3 


1.8 




3-4 


3.9 



1-2 


1.2 


3-4 


3.1 


1-3 


2.4 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



14!) 



Weather. 



State of sky. 


Rain. 


Hours of— 


Ther. 


Wet-bulb. 


i'y.iuif 


1 

p. 

1 


p. 

9 


i 
1 


t 
3 
o 

H 


i 

a 

HS 

a 

a 
5 
S 
<1 


'5 

o 
a 

CO 


09 

U 


bl) 




■r. 

I 


§ 

i 

3 
3 


1 
N 


e 

> 
< 


1 

2 
•3 


B 

a 

j 


1 

4 


i 
1 

.2 
3 


S 
i 

s 
3 


i 

> 
< 
















1. 


o 


o 

















b.c. 


b. 


b.c. 










24 


26 


47 


36.2 




45 


.... 


29. 90 30. 14 29. 99 


b. 


b.c. 


b.c. 










24 


29 


40 


36.8 


... 


45 


.... 


29. 76 29. 96 29. 86 


b.c. 


b.c. 


o.c. 







o 


19 


5 28 


45 38 


... 


45 


— 


29. 77J29. 80 29. 79 


0. c. 


b. c. q. s. 


o. c. q. 







3 21 34 


43 39.81 34 


42 


38.5 


29. 77 29. 83 29. 81 


o. c. q. 


o. c. q. 


o. c. p. q. 


3 




o o' 1 


23 37 


44 41 34 


42 


38.8 29.64 29.80 29.71 


o. c. q. 


o. c. q. r. 


b. c. q. p. h. 


10 


29 


2 5 15 38 


43 41.2 38 


42 


40. 5 29. 53 29. 85 29. 69 


o. c. 


o. c. d. 


o. c. p. m. 


4 


12 





2 24 37 


44 


41.2 37 

j 


43 40. 6 29. 87 29. 97 29. 90 


o.c. 


b.c. 


b. c. d. 


2 







12 12 37 


47 


41.7 37 


46 41 29. 82 30. 09 30. 00 


o. c. d. 


o. c. d. 


o. c. r. 


20 


5 





24 40 


50 


45.8 40 


5045 29.57 29.83 29.66 


o. c. r. 


o. c. d. m. 


o. c. f. m . 


8 


10 





15 


2 


22 41 


51 


44.7 41 


49 44. 5 29. 54 29. 95 29. 71 


o.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 










17 


7 38 


49 


43.6 


37 


48 42. 8 29. 94 30. 07 30. 02 


b. 


b.c. 


b.c. 










24 


34 


47 


40.5 


34 


45 39. 7 29. 78 30. 0529. 93 


o. c. s. 
b.c. 
b.c. 
b.c. 

b. 

b. 
b.c. 


b.c. 
b. c. q. 

b.c. 
b. c. q. 

b.c. 

b. 

b. c. q. 


o.c. 

b.c. 

b. c. q. 

b.c. 

b. 

b. 
b.c. 











... 


4 









o| 3 
o' 24 
o' 24 
o' 24 
24 
0, 24 
24 


20 38 
40 
36 
30 
29 
37 
37 


43 1 41 

49 44.9 
51 42. 1 

50 38.5 
47 37.8 
54 46. 5 
58 48.4 


38 
40 
36 

... 

... 
36 
36 


43 
47 
47 
46 
45 
52 
56 


40. 4 29. 52 29. 77 29. 65 
43. 5 29. 2329. 52 29. 34 
39. 7 29. 28 29. 50 29. 38 
.... 29.55 29.9129.76 
....29.88 29.96 29.91 
44.7 29.74 29.89 29.81 
45. 9 29. 53 29. 74 29. 58 


b.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 







24 


35 


51 43.2 35 50 42.2 29.54 29.6129.58 


b. 


b.c. 


b.c. 







24 


35 


64 47 


35 58 45. 4 29. 49 29. 69 29. 57 

i 1 


t. 


b.c. 


b.c. 







24 


36 


60 47.6 36 57 45.8 29.70 29.9129.82 

j 


b.c. 


o. c. d. f. 


o. c. m. r. 


8 


6 


7 7 


16 39 


51 44.2 39 50 43.3 29.9130.15 30.00 


■ o. c. p. b. 


o.c. 


o.c. 




7 


i 
2 1 


23 38 


48 42.2 38 46 41.4 30.20 30.37 30.30 


o.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 







20 


4 39 


1 '' 
49 42.9 39 46 41.8 30.34 30.40 30.38 


b.c. 
b.c. 


b. c. 
o. c. d. 


o.c. 
c.p. 



6 




20 
6 


4 36 51 43. 4 1 35 49 42.2 30.18 30.39 30.29 
18 41 46 43. 5 40 46 42. 5 30. 03 30. 18 30. 09 


o. c. d. 
o. c. m. r. 
o. c. f. r. 


o. c. d. 

o. c. m. r. 

o. m. r. 


o. c. r. 

o. c. d. m. 

o. c. d. 


24 
14 

18 


18 
16 
27 


3 1 24 1 ftl] 42 43.8! 40 46 43. 3 29. 78 
12 24 42 52 46.7 42 5145.9 29.69 
12 2 17 40 49 44.6 40 48 43.9 29.74 


30. 04 29. !>0 
29. 79 29. 7"> 
29. 96 29. 87 








117 if 8- 


8 51406 303 42.6 

1 1 




2d. 83 



150 



AFFAIES IN ALASKA. 



MAY, 





Winds. 




First part. 


Middle part. 


Last part. 


8 

1 


Hours of calm. 


1 


i 

© 

p 


© 

ft 


© 

© 

bfi 

| 

© 
> 


s 

© 

© 

s 


© 

g 
o 
ft 


© 

© 

© 
< 


| 
© 

5 


\ 

© 

o 


© 
© 

© 
bC 

© 
> 
< 


3 

© 
© 

I 


•ta 

5 

=- 


— ■ 

p. 
i 


| 

- 


I 


1 


NE. 


} 


1-2 
1-2 


1.4 
1.5 




sw. 
w. 


2 

1-4 


2 




c. 

W. 

E. 








1.6 


1.... 

4 1 


5 6 

.... , 


2 


26{ 


1-2 

1 


1.2 


3 


E. 
c. 




1-5 


„ 


{ 


s. 

SE.to \ 

sw. s 

SSE. 


3-5 
1-3 


1.5 


S. 

NNE. 

W. 




1-4 
1-2 

1-2 


EH" 

1. 6 1. 5 


2 
6 









4 




3 


9 


5 


5 ENE. 
1 c. 


I 


1 


1 


4-6 


5 




SSE. 




1-5 


2. 7 3. 2 


4 116 


6 


ENE. 




1-2 


1.3 




SW. 


1-2 


2 1 

3.3 f 


c. 

NE. 


1 

! 


1-2 


1. 4 1. 5 


2 12 5 


7 


5 N c E - 


1 


1 


1 




wsw. 


2-4 


WSW 
c. 


5 


5 


2.6 


3 13 7 


• { 1* 

, 5 m 


1 
J 


1-2 


1.3 




wsw. 


2-4 


3.1 


WSW. 




1-4 


3 


2.5 


4 .... 


1 5 


1 


1 




SSW. 


1-3 


2.1 


NE. 




1-3 


1.7 


1.7 


4.... 


1 5 


10 


c. 

T. 
C. 

c. 








w. 

NE. 

SSW. 

SSW. 


1-5 
2-4 

» 

1-3 


3.4 

Hi 

2.4 J 

2.4 j 

1.7 
2.6 

3 { 
"5 


W. 

NE. 

NE. 

SW. 
NNE. 
SSW. 

NE. 

SSE. 

NE. 




4-5 
1-2 
1-4 

a 

2-3 
'1 


4.8 
1.2 
2.6 

2.8 


2.5 

u 


6 
4 
5 






6 

4, 


11 


i 


1 


.... 


.... 


13 






L5 i 


4-... 


4 


14 


C NNE. 

c. 
c. 

V. 


1 


1-3 


2.5 




SSW. 


2-3 




4.... 


.... 4 


1*> 






I 

{ 


SW. 

s - , 

SW. } 
SSW. 


1-2 
1-3 


SW. 

c. 

W. 
NE. 
SW 

N. 


1 


3 

1-2 

1 


3 2.2 


5 
8 
1 


3 


4 9 


16 






.... 11 


17 


1 


1 


1 2 


18 
19 

20 


NE. 

{ t 

W. 

NE. 
C NNE. 
t c. 


} 

5 


1-2 
4-5 

1-2 

1 

1 


1.8 
4.7 

1.5 

i 

1 


\ 
\ 
{ 


E. 

w. 

SSW. 
E. 

SSE. 

NE. 
SSW. 
SSW. 


2-4 
1-3 
1-4 
3-4 
2-6 
1-4 
2-3 
2-3 


3.6 

1.7 

3 

3.7 

4.2 

3 

2.4 

2.9 


' 


EXE. 

SW. 

c. 

Y. 

NNE. 
SW. 


I 


3-5 

1 

1-5 

1-4 
1-2 
1-3 


4.5 

1 

2 

2.5 
1.5 
2.1 


'3.4 

2.4 

2.6 

},, 

2.2 


2 
2 

4 


1 


3 


2 

6 

1 


21 

22 




1 


5 


?3 


{ ft 


1 


1-2 


1.7 




SSW. 


2-3 


2.6 \ 


V. 

NE. 




1-4 
1-2 


2.2 
1.2 


},, 


2 






a 










21 


NE 




1 2 


1 2 




SSW 


2 4 


3 4 


ENE 




2 8 


1 " 


3 






25 
26 


E. 

NE. 




6-8 
1-2 


7 
1.8 


{ 


SSE. 

w. 

SE. 


4-6 

2-3 
1-2 


1 
5.5 j 

2.6 
1.8 


SE. 
NE. 

v. 

c. 


} 


3-5 
2 

1-2 


3.7 
2 

1.7 


3 o.2 

2.1 


3 ... 


3 6 


27 


C W. to 
J SSW. 

{ NE. 
NE. 

f NNE. 
( c. 
c. 


i 


1-4 


2.6 


SSW. 


2-3 


2.4 


W. 




1-2 


1. 4 2. 2 


1 


1 


28 
29 
30 




1 
1 
1 


1 


c. > 

wsw. s 
w, 

SW. 
E 


1-3 

1-3 
3 

1-4 


2.2 
3 

3. 2 


W. 
NE. 

SSW. 
NE. 

NE 




3-4 
1 

1-2 
1 

1-4 


1.7 K, 

2. 4 2. 4 


4 
1 
3 


~ 


2 B 

1 2 

3 


^1 








NE. 


1-4 


3 


E. 




2-5 


3. 1 °. : 


5 






5 






















2. 35 


95 10 31 136 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



151 



18S0. 



Weather. 



State of sky. 



b.c. 
o. c. r. m. 

b. c. p. q. 

b. c. p. 

b. c. p. q. 

b. c. p. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

b. 

b.q. 

b. 

b. c. f. 

b.c. 

b. 

b.c. 

b.c. 
o. c. q. 
o. c. r. 

o. c. q. r. 

b.c. 
b.c. 

b. c. p. 

b. c. q. 

o. c. q. d. vl 

b. c. z. 

o. c. r. 

b. c. p. f. 

b.c. 

o. c. 
c.d. 



b.c. 
o. c. d. m. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

o. c. r. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

b.c. 
b.c. 
b.c. 

o. c. ra. 

b. 

b. 

b.c. 

b. c. m. 

o. c. q. t. 

o. c. 

o. c. r. 

b. c. p. 
o. c. r. 

b.c. 

b.c. 
o. c. q. 

o. c. f. 

o. c. r. 

o. c. r. 

b. c. p. 

b. c. f. 

o. c. p. 
0. c. 



Rain. 



Hours of- 



.. . 

V"! 
0... 

1... 

:: 



4 4 
4 9 

4 10 



12 3 

5 8 

24 65 

7 4 



3 

7; 7 



1 




'o 




c 







22 


11 


8 





10 





18 





7 


2 


14 





24 





22 





18 





24 





24 





24^ 


5 


1!) 



Ther. 



14 38 
5 38 

36 

i 
2 34 

40 



46.2 
44.2 



Wet-liult>. Barometer. 



46.2 
44.7 
44.2 31 



44.2 

44 

43.7 



I • I i 

A A r.o 



15 6 0' 



59 48.2 



1 20 
14 



44 

I I 

13 45 

14 44 
24 46, 

18 45 

3 40 

2 | 41: 

4 40 
4 41 

22 46 



39 64 

40 60 
I 

38 54 

41 57 
59 
59 
54 



50.3 38 
■I 39 



... 



51.9 
49.4 

46.7 

48.2 

48.5 

49.1 



37 





7 

10 13 42 

o' 2^ 

J J 



GO 


53. 3 


53 


49.7 


57 


49.1 


54 


47.7 


5G 


48 


55 


46.1 



o 

55 44. G 20. 

4G 43 29. 

49 44. 4 29. 
53 44 29. 
48 42. 5 29. 

51 42. 5 29. 
46 41. 8 29. 
48 40. 9 29. 
5G 46. 1 29. 

56 45.9 29. 
60 48. 5 29. 
55 46. 1 29. 

52 44.7 30. 

53 4G 30. 

57 47. 5 30. 
30. 



-29.86 
43 29. 65 29. 59 

46 29. 59 Jit. M 

4G 29. 55 20. 50 

50 29. 70 29. 57 
73 29. 91 29. 82 



40 

39 

54 48.2 40 
i 
48.8 45 

48 41 

44.2 42 



29. 



I _ 



IJ 



12 



19 



9 42 
5 42 

18 41 

.. 47 



131 158 



59 438, 

I I 



46.2 41 

48.1 41 

50 40 

51.9 46 



54 45. 8 29. 

53 44. 8 20. 
5347.230. 

54 47. 8 30. 
54 47. 2 29. 
45 43 29. 
48 44. 8 30. 
54 47 30. 

5748.930. 

5051. 1 29. 



90 30. 03 29. 99 

99 30. 09 30. 04 

92 30. 02 29. 95 

90 30. 02 29. 97 
77 29. 85 29. 80 
77 30. 02 29. 87 

02 30. 17 30. 12 

10 30.15 30.12 

05 30. 12 30. 09 

06 30. 11 30. 08 
01 30. 14 30. 07 
8130.0229.9] 
Gl 29. 87 29. 78 

35 29. 72 29. 54 

74 29. 80 29. 77 
7G 29. 81 29. 78 

80130,07,29.94 

08 39. 81 30. SO 

16 30.37 30.28 
87 30. 30 30. 17 
8G30. 26 30. 10 
2G30. 4130. 34 
21 30. 41 30. 88 

0G30. 2G30. 15 

07 30. I ■ 



152 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



JUNE, 





Winds. 




First part. 


Middle part. 


Latter part. 


t 

s 


Hours of calm. 




a 
P 

s 


0) 

o 

ft 

1 


93 
O 

u 

> 
< 


n 
.2 

A 


© 

1 


© 
© . 

■ © 
bC 

© 
> 
< 


_© 

1 

3 


* 
© 

1 


© 

1 

o 

bC 

1 
© 

> 

< 


8 

a 

© 

1 


i 

A 

DO 


1 

3 


i 

Z 

3 


"3 
Id 
H 


1 




SSE. 




1-5 


2.5 


wsw. 


3 


3 




w. 


2-4 


2.7 


2.7 






4 


4 


2 


{ 


v. 


} 


1-2 


1.2 


S. to W. 


3-6 


4.2 




w. 


3-4 


3.9 


3.3 


2 






2 


3 


c. 

w. 

SE. 

sw. 


2-4 

1 

1-5 


3 
1 
2 


SW. 

s w. 

i E. 
SSW. 


2-3 

1 
1-5 

1-2 


2.1 

1 

3 

1.7 


i 
i 


s. 

E. 

S. 

s. 

E. 

N. 
W. 
W. 

SSE. 

NE. 

SE. 


1-3 

1-5 
2-3 
2-4 

1-2 

3-1 

1-4 

1-3 

3-6 

7 


2 

3 

3.3 
2.3 
3 

1.6 

3.3 
2.6 

2.2 

4.3 

7 


2.3 










4 
5 


1.8 

3. 
2.5 

1.8 
J 3. 3 




1 


1 


1 
1 


6 


I 

{ 


NE. 

c. 
NE. 
W. 

W. 
NE. 

E. 

c. 


I 


1 

1-2 
1-2 
1 

1 
1-2 


1 

1.4 

1.6 

...... 

1.3 


c w. 

w. 

w. 
w. 

s. 

s. 


1-4 

3 

3-4 

3-4 

1-2 

2-3 

2-4 


2 

3 

3.6 

3.1 

1.2 

2.2 

2.9 


9 






2 
3 


7 


3 




8 




9 









10 


3 






3 










11 




SSE. 




3-7 


4.8 


ESE. 


1-6 


3.1 


1 


E. 
v. 


2-3 
1-2 


2.3 
1.3 


| 3. 3 






1 


1 










12 


I 


NE. 


\ 


1-2 


1.1 


SW. 


1-3 


2.4 




W. 


1-4 


2.2 


2. 


2 




a 


13 


c. 
W. 

NE. 

E. 

E. 

W. 

c. 

TV. 


1 

1 

1-4 
3-5 
1 
1-4 


...... 

2.6 
4 
1 
2 


j SSE. 


1-3 


2.8 




SSE. 


1-5 


14 


2.1 


2 




2 


14 


i 


\ 


v. 

v. 
SW. 
SSW. 


1-2 
2-5 
1-1 
1-3 


1.7 
3 
2 
2.4 


{ 

V 

I 

{ 
1 
{ 


W. 

NE. 

NE. 

S. 

w. 

SW. 


1-2 

4 

2 

1-3 

1 

2-3 

1-2 


1.7 

4 

2 

1.8 

1. 

2.5 

1.5 


J" 

}, 

L. 

J* 

2.4 








15 








16 

17 


4 


.... 


3 
1 


7 
1 


18 




W. 




1 


1 


s. 


2-4 


3.8 


NE. 
SW.to x 
NNW. 5 

S. 

SSE. 
E. 


1 
l-l 


1 
2.6 


I 2 






2 


19 


1 


E. 
v. 

sw. 




1-2 

1-4 
1-2 


1.1 

2 
1.8 


s. 

J SSW. 


1-2 
1-4 


1.6 

2.2 


1-3 

2 
1-3 


2.1 

2 
2 


1.6 










30 


















21 


1 


ESE. 
c. 


1 


1-2 


1.5 


SSE. 


1-4 


3 


I 


SE. 5 


1-5 


3.2 


1.7 4 


1 


2 


7 


22 




S. 




1-4 


2.6 


S. 


1-3 


1.4 


1 

i 


S. 
ENE. 


1-2 
1 


1.3 
1 


}L. 


1 


1 


1 


3 


23 


{ 


SE. 


5 


2-3 


2.5 


S. 


1-3 


2.1 


S. ) 


1-2 


1.8 


2. 


2 





2 


4 


24 
25 


1 


SSE. 
c. 

W. 


I 


1 
1-4 


1 

3 


AY. 

S. 


1-3 
3-4 

3-4 

1-0 


1.6 
3.5 

3.2 
1.5 


w. 

SW. to ) 

NNE. \ 

c ) 

*. \ 

v! } 


2-3 
2-3 
2-3 


2.9 
2.8 
2.5 


2.3 

3. 

17 


5 


1 


3 8 


°6 


«> 




-27 


1 


c. 
SW. 


| 


1-2 


1.5 


SW. 


2-3 


2.2 


1-2 


1.2 1.7 


3 





2 5 


^8 




N. 




1 


1 


s. 


1-3 


2.3 




w. 


3-6 


4.2 


2.8 


1 




.... 1 


29 




W. 
NE. 




4-5 

1 


4.4 
1 


w. 

s. 


4-6 
1-3 


5 
2.6 




w. 

w. 


1-5 
1-5 


3 
3.1 


4.1 

2.3 






1 1 


80 


1 






1 












2.34 


42 


4 


24 


TO 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



L53 



1880. 



Weather. 



State of sky. 



o. c. p. 
b. c. 

o. c. m. 

o. c. m. 

o. c. d. 

o. c. p. 

b. c. 
o. c. ra. 

c. 

b.c. 

•. c. q. r. 

b.c. 

o. c. m. 

o. c. p. q. 

o. c. q. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

o. c. f. 

o. c. f. 

o. c. r. m. 

o. c. r. m. 

o. c. r. f. m. 

o. c. r. m. 

o. c. r. f. 

o. c. 

b. c. 
o. c. 

\ it S 

o. c. f. m. 
o. c. d. 



o. c. d. 

b. c. q. 

o. c. m. I 
b.c. 5 

o. c. d. 

o. c. \ 
b.c. 5 
b. c. ni. 

o. c. d. 
o. c. m. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

o. c. m. r. 

o. c. in. 

c. 

o. c. r. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

b. c. 

b.c. 

b.c. i 
o. c. r. J 

o. c. d. f 
o. c. d. f. 

b.c. 
o. c. f. m. 

c. p. 

b.c. 

b. c. 

b. c. \ 
o. c. j 

b.c. 

c. f. 
b. c. 



Rain. Hoars of- 






o. c. d. 
b. c. 

o. c. 

o. c. q. r. 
o. c. 

o. c. 

o. c. ra. 
b.c. 

b.c. 

o. c. q. r. 

o. c. m. r. 
b.c. 

b.c. 

o. c. 
o. c. p. 

b. c. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

o. c. r. 

o. c. r. f. 

o. c. r. f. 

o. c. f. 

o. c. r. f. 

f b. c. 
; o. c. 

b. c. 

\ b. c. 

> 0. c. 

o. c. 

; b. c. 

> o. c. f. 

b. c. 
b.c 



1 3 

... 

4G 
4 

1 ... 
6... 
1... 
... 

o... 

... 
10.. 

16 " 

4- 

ii.. 

i 

16 



J'"! 



bo U 



Ther. 



| 

I | 
o 3 



24 47 

23 43 

8 16 46 

1245 

24 43 

I 

6 1842 

5 1241 

8 16 45 

17 7 47 

12 12 48 

4 20 40 

11 



53 



Wet bulb 



I I 

1 | 

I £ S 



13 39 

2146 

2448 

6 48 

046 

49 



12 44 



3.7 

58 50. 1 

59 50. 5 
55 49.7 
53 48.5 

58 47.5 

49 J46.4 
55 |48. 5 

57 50.8 
50.2 
46.7 

7 






3 ! 



58 
57 

58 

63 

57 

40 '47 
44 53 



48.129.69 29.90 29.78 
49. 1 29 



42 



49. 7 30. 
18. 2 29. 
47. 2 30. 



92 30. 17 30. 04 
05 30. 18 30. 12 
95 30. 06 30. 01 
05 30. 11 30. 08 



46. 4 29. 85 30. 04 29. 95 

44. 5 29. 

47. 3 29 

49. 30 



84 29. 94 29. 87 
93 30. 23 30. 09 



46 55 

i 

50 48.2 29. 



53 47.8 
52 49.8 
57 52. 
61 54.5 
56 52.7 

54 50.9 



I 
24 49 

I 
24 49 

I I 

6 18 4 

i 

24 4 



10 14 45 



14 10 47 



14 10 49 
5 19 50 

15 9 51 
11 1348 
20 4 43 



54 


50.3 


43 


58 


50.7 


47 


56 


53. 


48 



57 


50.7 


47 


53 


49.2 


45 


■ 


50.7 


44 


61 


52.6 


46 


00 


54.6 


4S 


00 


55. 


4* 


;.o 


53.9 


50 



45 58 
48 55 
45 51 
53 
52 
55 
55 
52 
54 

5B 

57 
58 



25 30. 34 30. 31 
93 30. 30 30. 14 
88 29. 95 29. 93 
93 30. 04 29. 98 
66 29.93 29.78 
65 29.79 29.72 
78 29. 94 29. 86 
87 29. 99 29. 91 
0130.16 30.11 
98 30. 12 30. 04 
95 29. 99 29. 97 
49. 2 29. 97 30. 12 30. 05 
87 30. 01 29. 93 



45.5 29. 

45. 3 29. 

46. 4 29. 

48. 6 29. 

50. 4 29. 
52. 2 29. 

51. 2 30. 

49. 2 29. 
48. 7 29. 



51. 8 29. 
49. 2 29. 
48. 3 30 
48. 2 3D 



93 30. 07 30. 02 
0130.1030.06 



01 30. 37 30. 23 
50. 7 30. 34 30. : - 



53 50.7 
55 50.4 



4ti 52 

42 :»:: 



52. 5 30 

53. 4 30 

51. 9 30 

48. 6 30 
48. 5 30 



28 30. 36 30. 34 
23 30. 30 30. 26 

1080.2330. 17 

10 30.20 30. 16 
. 20 30. 24 30. 22 






163 285 413 



50. 46 









154 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



JULY, 





Winds. 




First part. 


Middle part. 


Latter part. 


© 

1 

i 

>> 

"S 

p 


Hours of calm. 


Q 


a 
_o 

o 
EC 

- 

p 


© 

c 

• 


© 

© 
> 


a 

o 
s 

p 


CD 

p 

o 


CD 

bl 

eg 

u 

> 

< 


J 

"-5 
© 

P 


CD 

p 

© 
ft 


CO 
U 

eg 

H 
CD 

> 


1 

P. 


1 

,2 


i 

1 i 

- EH 


1 


{ 

{ 


v'ble. \ 


1-2 


1.8 




SW. 


1-3 


2.1 


s 




1-3 


2.1 


2 


3 




.... 3 


? 


1 


1 




s. 


2 


2 


c w. 

) N. 




1-2 1. 5 ? 
1 1 5 


1.5 


3 






3 










3 




v'ble. 


1-2 


1.3 




SW. 


1-3 


2.1 


c ssw. 

1 s 
1 w 

t XE. 
5 SW. 


j 


.2 2 


1.8 


2 





3 5 


4 


{ 


v'ble. 
WSW. 

v'ble. 5 


1-5 
5-6 

1-2 


3 I 

5.5 3 

1.5 




SSE. 
SW. 


5-6 
1-2 


5.7 
1.8 




1-6 4 ) 
1 ' 


3.8 
1.5 








5 


1 
1-3 

1 


I I 


4 





.... 4 


6 




v'ble. 


1-2 


1.1 




SSW 


1-4 


2.3 


5 £ 


1 


2 2 


1.7 


1 


2 4 


7 


7 




v'ble. 


1-4 


2 




v'ble. 


1 


1 


5 r 


i 


1 1 


1.2 


4 


1 3 


- 


R 


{ 
1 


XXE. 1 

w. } 

W. 

SE. 


1 


1 




S. 


1-3 


2.2 


w. 




1-4 2.7 


2.2 


3 




3 


q 


1 
2-6 
1-3 


1 

3.4 

1.7 


i 


s. 

WSW. 

w. 

s. 

s. 


1-2 

2-5 

1-2 

2 

1-5 


1.2? 
3.7 5 

* T ! 

2.5 


w. 
s. 

£ v'ble. 
1 S. 




3-4 3.8 

1-3 2 
1-2 1. 4 I 
1 1 5 


2.4 
2.4 
1.8 


2 




I 


10 




n 





2 


2 


1? 


\ 
I 


c. 

c. ? 
X. 5 
SE. 








s. 

XE. 
W. 


1-3 
3-5 

1-2 


2 
4 
1.5 


C SE. 
i v'ble. 
C W. 
i Vble. 


} 


1-2 1. 6 
2-4 3. 2 ? 

3 3 5 
1-2 1. 2 ? 

1 1 I 


1.7 
3.1 
1.5 


5 
2 




2 


: 

i 


13 


1-4 

2 
1-3 


1.8 
2 ? 
1.75 


14 


.... 1 


1 ^ 




c. 






1 


ft \ 


1-2 


1.7 


\ v'ble. 


\ 


1 1 


1.3 


6 


2 


2 


10 










16 




W. 


1-2 


1.6 ,5 


c. ? 
EXE. 5 


1-4 


3.3 


SE. 




1-i 2.3 


2.3 


.... 


2 





2 


17 


\ 
\ 
\ 

\ 
{ 
i 
{ 


SE. 
W. 
E. 

SSE. 
E. 
XE. 

c. 

c. > 

v'ble. 5 

w. 1 

v'ble. 
SE. 

NE. 
v'ble. 


6 
1-2 
2-4 

2 
4-5 
2-3 


6 I 

1.25 

3 I 
2 5 

t 8 f 


SE. 
SE. 
XE. 

SSE. 5 
v'ble. 

W. 

W. 
SW. 

s. 

w. 

ssw. 


1-5 
1-3 
2-3 

1-5 

1-3 
1-3 
1-2 
2-3 

3-6 

1-2 
1-2 


3.4 
1.3 

2.9 

2.5 
2.2? 
2.5 5 
1.6 
2.5 

4.6 

1.8 
1.5 


E. 
C vble. 
* E. 
W. 

< SSE. 
{ E. 
W. 

w. 

C SSE. 
N. 
WSW 
c. 


I 


2-5 3. 8 
1-2 1. 3 ? 
3-6 4.6 5 

1-2 1. 6 

IP 

1-3 1.6 

1-2 1. 3 
3-7 4 ? 

1 1 5 

1 1 


3.4 

2.4 
2.8 
1.4 
1.8 
1.5 
3.2 
1.3 








1R 










IP 






1 


1 

7 


f >n 


2.5 5 


! 


5 

; 

l 

2 


2 


?1 


1-2 

1 

1-2 

2-4 




1.3 


5 


22 
23 
24 


1 

1.5? 
2.7 5 
1 
1.5 


1 


6 

1 
6 


9 

2 
9 


?»i 


1 


NE. } 
WSW. 


1 


1 




w. 


1 6 


3 


W. 




1-6 3. 3 


2.7 


4 




4 


?lfi 


13 







w. 


2-5 


4.1 


{ T: 

1 SW. 
SE. 


! 


3-5 4 


3.3 




SI 


f\ 


27 




NE. 


1-2 


1.5 




w. 


1-2 


1.5 


1-2 1. 5 


1.4 


2 


o 


4 


oy 


{ 


E. 

S. " 


2-4 
4-5 


!*$ 




s. 


1-3 







1-2 1. 5 


2.3 


1 




1 




4.5 5 




29 


i 


ft i 


1 


1 


s. 


1-3 


2. 2 


s. 




1-2 1. 1 


1.8 


5 


.... 1 6 


30 


X T E. 


1-2 


1.2 If 

2.3 \ 


w. 

s. 


1-2 
2 


1.3 
2 


s. 


i 


i-2 1. 5 


1.5 


2 


.... 3 5 


1 




W. 


1-3 


w. 

s. 


3 
2-3 


3 

2.8 


s. 
w. 




1-2 1. 3 ? 
1-2 1. 3 5 


2.1 


1 


.... 2 3 




























2.1 


66 


12 


39 


117 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



155 



1880. 



Weather. 



"Weather. 



b. c. 
b. c. 
b. c. 

o. c. 

b. c. 

o. c. d. 

o. c. r. 

o. c. r. 

o. c. r. m. 

o. c. d. f. m. 

o. c. r. 
o. c. 
b. c. 

o. c. r. 

b. c. 

o. c. d. 
o. c. p. q. 

o. c. r. 
o. c. r. m. 
o. c. r. ni. 

o. c. p. 

o. c. d. 

o. c. r. 
C o. c. 
* b.e. 

o. c. r. m. 

o. c. 

b.c. 

o. c. q. r. m. 

o. c. r. 

o. c. ra. 

5 b.c. 
i o. c. m. 



c. 
b.c. 
b.c. 

• b.c. 

o. c. 

o. c. 
o. c. r. m. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

c. in. 

b.c. 

o. c. 
o. c. d. q. m. 

o. c. 

b.c 

o. c. p. 

o. c. 
o. c. r. m. 

o. c. m. 
o. c. r. m. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

o. c. q. p. m. 

S b.c. 

I o. c. f. m. . 

£ o. c. 

I b. c. q. 

I o. c. 

\ b. c. 

o. c. r. 

o. c. r. m. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

b.c. 



Rain. 



Hours 
i of— 



b.c. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

o.c. 
b.c. 

o. c. 

o. c. r. 

o. c. d. m 

o. c. d. m. 

b.c. 

o. c. r. 

b.c. 

o.c. 

o. c. q. 

b.c. 

b. c. p. 

o. c. p. 

o. c. r. 

o. c. q. r. m. 

o. c. p. m. 

o. c. r. m. 

o.c. 

b. c. p. 

o. c. f. 

o. c. r. m. 

b. c. q. 

b.c. 

o. c. r. 

o. c. r. 

b. c. m. 

b c. 

b. c. p. 



Ther. 



'54.0 



Wet bulb. 



3m < 



45 55 51. 2 
I I 
62 54. 143 58 51. 1 

46 63 56.6 44 56 53.3 

II ill 

16 1 48 59 55. 4 44 57 52. 4 

■ I 

9 15 46 58 52. 8 43 57 50. 6 

. . 24 56 55 52. 7 49 54 51. 3 

1 20 50 56 52.549 54 51.4 

13 11 48 59 53. 2 48 56 51. 2 

11 9 49 60 54. 2 48 56 52. 1 
4 20 50 58 53.0 49 55 50.9 

12 1149 6153.3 48 5151.3 

I i 
1 23 5155 53.149 52 51.0 

7 17 50 63 56.8 48 58,53.4 



8 16 52 58 54.2 50 54 52.4 

I I I 
19 5 5160 56.5 50 58 54.6 

2 2l57 68j60.0 56 62 58.0 

5 19 53 59 55. 5 51 54' 52. 4 

' I I ! 
. . . 24 51 56 53. 5 50 54 52. 2 

I I I 
... 24 53 62 56. 5 52 58 54. 3 
I 
.. 24 52 56 54.3 5155 53.2 

| i I 

11 13 52 56 53.2 5155 52.0 

I 

10 9 516156.3 5158 53.9 

' I i 

3 215158 53.9 49 55 52.2 

1 I 
8 16 49 59 53.5 48 56 51.7 

; II i 

12 12 50 58 53.8 49 57 52.0 

11 13 5156 53.0 49 54 50.9 
7 17 49 55 52.5 48 54 50.9 

24 51 55 52. 7 50 53 51. 3 



Bar. 






30. 12 30. 24 
30.07 30.11 
29. 79 30. 10 



30. 18 . 
30. 09 . 
20. K . 



29.80 30.05 29.96 



14 10 51 59 54. 6 50 57 53. 
13 11 51 57 53. 9 49 54 51. 8 

19 5 51 63 56. 7 50 66 55. 2 



284 445 54. 4 62. 81 



29. 88 30. 00 
29. 68 29. 84 
29. 66 29. 86 

29. 87 30. 00 

30. 00 30. 09 
29.99 30.11 

29. 90 30. 04 

30. 04 30. 22 

29. 97 30. 20 
30. 11 30. 25 

30. 00 30. 16 
29. 82 29. 98 
29. 82 29. 92 
29. 80 29. 93 
29. 65 29. 79 
29. 60 29. 90 

29. 93 3(1. 18 

30. 02 30. 19 
30. 05 30. 30 
30. 11 30. 27 
30. 04 30. 27 

29. 81 30. 30 
20.7180.01 

30. 00 30. 12 
29.97 30.13 
30. 03 30. 00 



29. 92 . . 
29.74.. 

29. 76 . . 
29.95.. 

30. 04 . . . 
30. 06 . . 

29. 97 - - 

30.14 -- 

30. 07 - - 
30. 21 . . 
30.12 .. 
29. 88 . . 
29.88 ... 

29. 73 . . 

29. 71 - - 

30. 07 - - 

30. 15 - - 
30. 15 . . 
30.21 .- 
80.18 .- 



30. 31 
30. 16 

30. 00 
80. 06 

30. 01 



5 
3 
14 

1 
5 



5 

4 
136 



156 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



AUGUST, 





Winds. 




First part. 




Middle part. 


Latter part. 


e 

a 

i 

• 

1 

>> 
1 

p 


Hours of calm. 


p 


a 

"S 
g 

P 


O 


CD 

1 
1 

> 


| 



2 
P 




6 

2 
© 

4) 


a 



'-J3 


<s 

P 


c 



1 


6 

<2 

«0 

ar 

> 


A 

-*» 

00 

H 


S3 
Pi 

<s 
So 
■a 

9 


5 

04 

03 

— 


"3 


i 


5 


T J 


1 


1.0 




S. 

sw. 


1-3 

1-2 


1.6 
12 


s 


S. 
W. 


} 


1-2 
3 


1.3 
3.0 


1.4 
1.6 


5 
5 


.... 


1 
2 


6 

7 


2 


1 
i 


c. ? 


2-3 


2.5 




s. 


1 
1-4 3 n 


c. 
W. 


1-3 


1 9 


2.4 


R 






ft 


d 

4 


SSE. 5 
E. J 

c 5 


1-2 


1.2 




sw. 


1-3 


» \\ 


SW. 
c. 


i 


1 


1.0 


1.5 


.4 


1 


4 


9 


IS 


i 

{ 
I 
1 

I 

{ 


NE. ? 


1 


1.0 




s. 


1-2 


1.7 { 


W. 


I 


1-2 


1.8 


1.6 


4 


2 


3 


9 




c. ? 

v'ble. 5 

c. ? 


1-2 

1-2 


1.5 
1.2 




E. 
S. 

w. 

ssw. 


1-3 2.2 | 


SE. 
E. 

c. 


4-6 
1.2 


4.7? 
1.65 


2.7 
1.9 


4 
3 






4 
9 


fl 


3-6 

2 

2-3 


5.0 
2.0?,' 
2.8 S 




6 


SI 








8 
q 


E. 

NNE. j 

W. 

w. 

NNW. ? 
0. 


1-2 
1-2 
1 


1.2? 
1.5'J 

1.0 




v'ble. 

S. 


3 
1-3 


3.0 
1.9 




C W. 
1 c. 
v'ble. 


{ 


3-4 

2-4 


3.6 
2.6 


2.5 
2.0 


2 
3 


1 


2 


4 
4 




2-4 
2-5 

1-2 


3.1 
3.0 

1.2 


\ 


w. 

s. 

1: } 


3-4 
1-2 

1-3 


3.7 

1.7 

2.2 


I 


W. 
c. 

S. 
c. 


} 


2-4 


3.6 


3.5 
2.0 

1.6 










10 


1 
3 


2 


6 
3 


7 
8 


12 


1-2 


1.2 


13 








S. 


1-2 


1.5 


S. 
c. 


1 


1 


1.0 


1.2 


6 


1 


4 


11 


14 


{ 


c. ? 

w. s 


1-4 


2.3 




SW. 


2-4 


2.4 


S. 




1-2 


1.3 


2.0 


5 


.... 


1 


6 


T> 


{ 
I 

I 


NE. 

v'ble. 

X. 

W. 

I' } 

SE. 

S. 

ESE. 

w. 

w. 

v'ble. 


3-6 

1-4 

1-2 
1-3 

1-2 

1-5 

1-4 

1 

1-2 
1-2 
1-2 


4.0 

2.4 

1.8) 
2.0 5 

1.2 

2.7 

2.6 

1.0 

1.5 
1.3 
1.3 


I 

I 

I 
1 
{ 


E. 

SSE. 
v'ble. 

SSE. 

W. 

s. 

SE. 
S. 
E. 

SE. ■ 
S. 
v'ble. 
W. 
E. 
v'ble. 


3=4 
6-7 
1 
2-3 

1 

1-2 

Cl-2 

J 2-4 

1 

1-2 
1-2 
1-2 
3-5 
1-2 
1-2 


3-5? 
6.5$ 
1.0? 

J| 

1.3 J 

151 ^ 


s. 

c. 

W. 

E. 
NW. 
NW. 

SW. 

S. 

SSE. 

v'ble. 

W. 

SSW. 

w. 
w. 




1-3 


1.7 


3.5 
2.0 

1.7 

1.5 

1.4 

1.9 

1.7 
3.2 
2.4 










16 


1 
2 

3 

] 


1 


6 
2 
3 


7 

4 

7 
1 
2 


17 

18 
1<) 


1-2 

4-5 

2 

1-2 

1-4 

2-3 

2 

1-2 

1-2 

2-3 

3-5 

1-5 


1.3) 
4.5$ 
2. S 

1.2? 
2.7$ 

2.4 
2.0? 
1.3 5 

1.8? 
2.7 5 
4.1 

3.6 


9M 


2.7 J 

"lS" 

1.8 






2 


in 






00 


1.5 
4 










09 


1.2? 
1.35 




2 






2 








24 


1 


1 i 

W. 
W. 


1-2 


1.3 




W. 


3-5 


4.1 




w. 




1-4 


2.7 


2.8 


3 


1 


1 


5 


25 


1-2 
1-7 


1.6 
3.1 




s. 

v'ble. 


1-3 
1-3 


1.7 
1.9 


\ 


v'ble. 
W. 

N. 




1-3 

2-4 
1-2 


1.4 
3.0? 

1.7 5 


1.6 
2.5 




2 


3 

2 


5 
2 








27 


5 


v'ble * 
c. 5 


1-3 


1.8 




W. 


3-4 


3.6 


\ 


W. 
c. 


I 


3-5 


3.8 


3.0 


3 


1 


4 


8 


28 { 


W. 

NE. 
XE. 

WS\V\ 


i 1 

1 
2 


1.0 

1.0? 
2.0 3 


\ 


c. ? 
SW. 5 

SW. 


1-2 
1-2 


1.8 
1.4 


I 


S. 
c. 

S. 


} 


1 
1 


1.0 
1.0 


1.4 
1.2 


3 

1 


2 

1 


4 


9 
2 


30 ] 


S I 


1-2 


1.2 




SE. 


1-3 


2.0 




E. 




1-3 


2.5 


1.8 


2 


3 





5 


T1 




E. 


1-2 


1.2 


i 


E. 

SSE. 


2-3 
2-3 


2.5 ? 
2.25 




SE. 




1-4 


2.3 


2.0 






1 


1 










2. 05 72 


18 60 150 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



157 



1880. 









Weather. 






Clouds and sky. 


Rain. 


Sours 
oi- 


Th.-r. Wet bulb. 


Barometer. 


ot- 


1 

Pi 


u 
c8 
ft 
© 
B 


u 
3 

p, 

1 

"cS 


OB 

5 

o 

W 


2 
<1 


6 


CO 

S " 
o i2 




Highest. 

o Average. 

o | Lowest. 
o Highest 


6 

i 

< 



i 1 


■ 

1 


7 

t- 


z 
















b. c. 


b.c. 
b. c. 


b.c. ' 
b.c. 






19 
23 


55< 
15 


I 73 61. 8 

5 70 62 

; i 


53 69 
55 65 


59.1 30.05 30. 11 30.08 ...' 
58. 7130. 04 30. 09 30. 07 - - - 





b. c. 







i' 


b. c. 


b.c. 
o. c. p. m. 


b, c. 
c. 






21 
3 


35 

215 


5 64 59. 2 

56158.1 

1 


54 62 

54 60 


57.6 29.86 30.08 2B 





o. c. 


7 





57. 1 29. 83 29. 89 29. 85 


... 


4 


o. c. 


o. c. p. 


0. c. 


4 




1 


23 5 


5 60 57 


54 58 55.6 29.83 29.93 29.90 







b. c. 


o. c. r. 


o. c. q. r. m. 


7 


.10 


8 


165 


2 62 56.6 


50 59 54.529 78 30.04 


29.87 ... 


5 


b. c. 


o. c. r. 


o. c. r. 


4 




15 


85 


59 55 


49 57 


53.2 30.04 30.10 


30. 06 - - - 





b. c. 


b. c. 


b.c. 







22 


24 


9 6656.3 


47 59 


53.3 30.12 30.27 

1 


30.20 --- 





o. c. 


o. c. m. 


o. c. m. 


1 


.04 


3 


21 J 


1 59 54. 8 


50 57 


53.2 30.19 30.27 


• 
30. 24 - - - 


•Jl 


o. c. m. 


o. c. m. 


o. c. m. 







2 


22| 


2 57 54.6 

| ! 


5] 56 


53. 5J30. 04 30. 19 


30.11 


... 


13 


o. c. q. m. 


b. c. 


o. c. f. 






8 


16 1 


2 61 55. 9 


5158 


54. 6 30. 00 30. 13 


30.06 




13 


o. c. f. m. 


b. c. f. m. 


o. c. p. m. 


2 


.17 


6 


18 I 

I 


60 54.5 


49 58 


53.230.08 30. 14 


30.10 




24 


o. c. f. m. 

b. c. 

o. c. p. 


b.c. 
o. c. p. m. 
o. c. p. q. 


b.c. 
o. c. m. 
o. c. r. 


4 
14 


.45 
.40 


17 
6 


lSll 


.2 72 60.1 
,3 5956.2 

,3 62 57. 1 

l 


5168 
52 57 
5258 


58. 29. 97 30. 15 
54. 6 29. 93 29. 98 

54. 8 29. 7329. 93 

1 


30.06 
29.95 
29.81 


... 


14 

9 

4 


0. c. 


o. c. d. m. 


o. c. d. 


10 


.10 


1 


23 52 57 54. 2 

1 1 


5155 53.0 29.89 29.98 29.94 

| | 




7 


o. c. p. m. 


o. c. r. 


o. c. r. 


16 


.40 


... 


u. 


,2 59 54. 9 


51,57 53.6 29.92 30.06 30.00 

1 1 1 1 




C 


o. c. t. r. 


o, c. r. m. 


o. c. r. m. 


17 


.99 




24 i 


55 60 57. 4 

i 


1 
54 58 56.3 29.79 30.71 30.04 




'J 4 


o. c. r. f. 


o. c. r. f. 


o. c. r. 


20 


.62 




24, 


54 59 56. 3 

| | 


53 58 54.7 29.96 30.13 30.06--- 

1 




o. c. r. m. 


o. c. 


o. c. p. m. 


9 


.32 


2 


22 


52 59 54. 5 

1 | 


50 56 52. 3 30. 10 30. 20 30. 16 - . - 


17 


o. c. 

o. cm. 

o. c. 

{ » I 

o. c. r. 
o. c. p. 

\ S:t } 

c. 


o. c. p. m. 

( o. c. m, > 

} b. c. 1 

b.c. 

b.c. 

c. 

o. c. p. 

b.c. 


o. c. 
b.c. 
b.c. 
b.c. 

o. c. d. m. 

o. c. m. 

b.c. 


3 

1 


.20 
.01 


4 

s 

14 
IS 

3 

1 

17 


20 
15 
10 

! 6 

21 
20 


50 55 52.8 
5256 53.9 
52 69 57. 


48 53 51.2 30.07 30.16 
50 54 52. 30. 16 30. 28 
5166 55.7 30.22 30.31 


30. 11 - - - 

30. 22 - - 
30.25.- 
30. 20 - - - 

1 
30.08..- 

30. 02 - - - 
30. 09 . . . 


9 

1 






52 62 56. 9'51 58^ 54. 30. 153 30. 24 





7 
5 


.13 
.Of 


>2 62 55. 1 
5159 53.6 
5161 55. 


50 58 
50 57 
50 56 


1 
53.2 30.0130.14 

51. 8J29. 99 30. 06 

52. 7|30.04 30. 13 


10 

1-J 
•0 


o. c. 


o. c. d. m. 


5 


.OS 


4 


20 


51 59 54. 7W56 


52. 7 30. 10 30. 17 

J I 


30. 14 . . . 


5 


o. c. r. m. 


o. c. d. f. 


o. c. d. f. 


17 


.03 


... 


24 


54 62 57.6,52 60 

1 | 


56 30.02 30.11 

1 


30.05... 


■jo 


o. c. d. f. 


o. c. r. m. 


o. c. r. m. 


21 


1.8C 




24 


556158.0 54 59 56.5 29.92 30.05 

1 1 


29. 96 . - . 


M 


o. c. r. m. 


o. c. r. m. 


o. c. r. m. 


24 
198 


4.0C 
9. 87 


... 
227 


24 

512 


54 60,57. 5 
56. 4 


52 59 1 56. 1 29. 67 29. 91 


29. 76 . . . 

30. 05 


S 



158 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



September, 



Winds. 




First part.. 


Middle part. 


Latter part. 


6 
g 

® 

Eh 

R 


Hours of calm. 


fl 


| 

"-J2 

I 


© 

p 

S 


< 


© 

© 

R 


o 


© 

i 
• 

< 


J . 

© 
© 

5 


1 


© 

1 
© 

> 


i 

m 

H 


i 

- 
.2 

£ 


= 
p. 


"3 



l 

2 


s. 

C SSE. to I 


1-2 
1-2 


1.3 

1.2 




E. 
E. 


1-2 
1 


1. 3 SE. 

i 5 E - 

1 \ NE. 


1-3 
K 
1) 


1.9 

1 


1.5 1 


2 

1 


.... 3 
3 4 


3 


ENE. 


1-3 


2 


1 


SW. \ 


1-2 


1.6 S. to ESE. 


1 


1 


1.5 .... 


2 


.... 2 


4 


N. to SE. 


1 


1 


{ 

1 


I } 

ENE. 

ESE. 


1 


1 ■{ v'bie. 5 
8 ESE. 

8.8 N. 


1-2 


1.4 


1.1 


2 


3 


2 7 


<i 


NE. 


1-8 


6.1 


8 
8-9 


2-8 
1 


4 5? 
1 5 


' 






1 1 








6 


X. to E. 


1-2 


1.7 


s 


C. ) 
SE. 5 
ESE. 

S. 


2 


2 SE. 


1-4 


2.1 


1.9 1 


3 


4 


7 


E. 
C E. 

1 s. 

C ENE. 
1 WSW. 


1-6 
1-4 


3.6 
2.6 


1-4 
2-5 


2 E. 

4.2 E. 


2-4 
1-4 


3 
2.6 


2.9 
3.5 








8 






. . . 
1 1 


9 


4-6 
2-4 

1-2 


5 

2.7 
1.5 


NW. 

SW. 


1 
1-3 


1 WSW. 

2 ENE. 


1-3 
1-2 


1.3} 


1 .... 


1 


.... 1 i 


10 


ENE. 
ENE. 


1 
4-6 


1 
5.8 




E. 
E. 


2-3 

2-6 


2.7 E. 

4 { v'bie. } 

2 If SE " 
1 \ ENE. 


3-4 

1 


4.3 

1 


2.7 
3.8 








11 




1 




2 3 


12 


NE. 


1-3 


2 


E. 


to SSW. 


1-4 


1 
1-2 


I,} 


1.7 






1 1 












13 


NE. 


' 1-3 


1.3 


5 


ENE. \ 

c. s 

v'ble. 


1-2 


1.7 E. 


1-5 


3.1 


2.2 1 


2 




3 


14 


E. 


2-6 


4 


1-4 


2 


ENE. 


1-2 


1.1 


1.5 .... 


1 


1 


2 


15 5 


1-2 


1.3 




C. 






KWR. 


1 


1 


1.1 9. 


7 




9 


16 


1 JNJNJffi. > 
ENE. 


1-2 


1-1 


\ 


E. 
ENE. 


1-2 
1-4 


\%\ *" le - 


1-2 


,< 


1.4 




















17 


ENE. 


1 


1 




WSW. 


1 


1 { !•' 1 

1,1 { ENE. 5 

3. 6 , E. 

f 2 } ENE. 
» J c. 

» I 1 } 

1.8 ) F 


1 


1 


1 





2 


3 




IS 


C ENE. 
i NW. 
E. 

E. 


2 

1 

2-4 

2.6 


2 
1 
3.1 

4.8 


I 

I 

\ 

I 


W. 

ENE. 

NE. 

E. 

W. 

SW. 

w. 

ESE. 
v'ble. 


1-2 

2-4 
6-7 
5-7 
1-2 

1 

1-3 
1-3 

4 i 


1-3 
1-5 
1^ 


1.4 
3.1 
2.4 


1.3 
3.3 
4.4 






2 


2 


10 






•'0 










?1 


E. 

C SW. ) 
\ WNW. S 
( ENE. > 

SE. 


2-4 

1 

1-3 


2.7 

I 

2 






2.1 


2 


8 
2 


4 

1 


22 
?3 


2-6 


2.3 
4.1 


2 
3 


2 

1 




4. 2 










E. 

C E. 

1 SE. 

E. 

SE. 


2-7 

, 5-6 
5-7 
1-3 

1-3 


4.8 

5.5 

6 

1.4 

1.2 


\ 


E. 
S. 
W. 

SE. 

WSW. 

E. 

SE. 


2 
2 
2-3 
5-6 
3^ 
1-2 

1-2" 


2 

2 

2.8 

5.8 

3.7 

1.1 


? w. 
5 E - 

SW. 
v'ble. 

ESE. 
( SE. to ) 


1-2 
2-5 

1-4 
1-2 
1-2 

1 
2-4 


1.5 
4.3 

2.2 
1.5 
1.3 

1 
3 












24 


3.6 

















2b 


4 2 
1.3 








26 

» 


1 


1 


.... 


2 


2, 


1. 7 < WJNW. > 


1.6 





1 





1 




E. 

ENE. 

C ENE. 
$ v'ble. 


2-5 

1 

1-2 

1 


3.1 

1 

1.2 

1 


\ 


E. 

SE. 

S. 

c. 


5-6 

1-2 
3 


5.3 [ * 


2-5 


3.2 












28 


3.9 






2 


2 




1.4 
3 


S. 
ENE. 
NW. 

E. 


1-2 
1-3 

1 


1.5 
1.8 

1 






29 


i.6 

1 


1 
1 


6 
35 


1 
1 


2 


30 














2.3 


13 


30 


7S 



AFFAIRS IX ALASKA. 



L59 



1880. 



Weather. 



Clouds and skv 



•o. c. r. m. 
o. c. m. 

b. c. ni. 

b.c. 

o. c. q. r. 

o. c p. 
o. c. q. r. m. 
o. c. q. r. f. 

o. c. v. m. 

b. c. 
o. e. q. r. 

b. c. 

o. c. p. 

o. c. q. v. 
( o. c. d. 
* b. c. 

o. c. r. m. 
b. c. 

b. c. 

b. c. q. 
5 o. c. q. i 
i b. c. q. < 

o. c. p. 
b. c. 



o. c. p. q. m. 



o. c. r. q. m. 
o. c. p. 



o. c. q. r. 

b. t. p. m. 
b. c. 



Rain. =Sg™ ' 



e 



o. c. r. f. 
o. c. d. in. 

b.c. 

C. p. HI. 

o. c. q. r. f. m. 

b. e. 

o. c. r. m. | 
b. c. q. m. J 
i 
b. c. 

C o. c. 

\ b. c. : 

o. c. q. r. m. 

( b.c.r. 
) b. c. 

o. c. p. 

o. c. r. 
o. c. 
b.c. 

o. c. m. 

b.c. 

b.c. 
b. c. q. 
'b. c. q. 

b.c. 



b.c. 



b.c. 
o. c. 



o. c. p. q. 

o. c. m. 

o. c. r. ni. 

o. c. p. q. 

b. c. 
b.c. 



o. c. r. m. 
o. c. q. r. m. 

b.c. 

c. 

o. c. q. m. 

b. c. p. 
o. c. r. ni. 
o. c. r. in. 

o. c. r. 

o. c. q. r. 

f o. c. m. 
i b.c. 

b.c. 

o. c. p. q. 

o. c. p. 

o. c. r. m. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

o. c. 

o. c. q. 

o. c. q. r. 

b.c. 

C b.c. 
i o. c. 

o. c. p. q. 

o. c. p. q. m. 

o. c. p. q. 
o. c. r. 

o. c. r. m. 

o. c. p. q. 

b.c. 
b. c. 



13 1. 



9 . 36 1 
1 .19 22 

6 8 

13 1.26... 
9 ' .38 8 



46 10 

32 10 . 



30 



15 1.20 



1 

1 

4 

2 .02 



2, .04 



12 1 .29 



15 1.02 1 

18j . 77 . . . 

20 . 79 . . . 



11 .. 
4.., 



Wet 

1m.11). 



Bai 



" i' 
t 



I I 
o o | o o 

55 53. 5 50 55 

56 52.2 49 55 

57 52. 2 46 55 
5651.846 54 

57 52. 7 4* 55 

56 52. 6 48 54 

56 53. 2 4!) .".4 
56 51.2 44 53 

53 48. 2 42 51 

55 51. 5 46 52 

! I i 

58 54. 48 55 



o 

52. 29. 7* 
51.029 



6 . 04 16 . . 

10 .16 3 . . 

17 1.11 ... ... 

8 .19 4.. 

03 24.. 



47 55 50. 6 45 54 

48 53 50. 9 4G 52 
5154 52.148 52 

47 55 51. 6 4554 

i 

48 56 52. 1 46 55 

45 58 50. 2 44 55 

I 
44 56 50.24254 

51 59 55. 4 49-56 
53 63 58. 7 52 56 

5260 56.5 5158 

i 

50 56 52. 8 48 54 



48 56 53. 1 46 54 

II II I 

53 58 54. 7 50 55 

! ! 

'4557 53.44455 
46 55 50.0 44 54 



50. 8 29. 
50. 4 29. 

50. 8 29. 

51. 29. 

51. 5 29. 

48. 9 29. 

46. 8 29. 
48. 8 30. 

52. 1 30. 

48. 7 29. 

49. 29. 

50. ] 29. 
50. 3 29. 

50. 5 29. 

48. 6 29. 



87 29. 98 
80 29. 99 
87 30. 04 



29. 83 



29. 92 
55 29. & 
45 29. 68 



30.10 
30.27 
30. 15 
30. 13 



Houra 
of- 



i i 

< z £ 



24 20 
29.93 

29. 91 1 5 

29.99 12 5 

29.57 24 7 

29. 85 9 

29.78 24 18 

29.57 14 6 



47 29. 90 
21 29. 44 
26 29. 70 

72 29. 89 

90 30. 08 



48. 4 30. 05 30. 21 
52. 1 29. 
53. 7 29. 



83 30. 15 

58 29. 79 



30.19 13 

30.06 20 

29. 98 1 

29.79 21 

29.28 24 

29.50 20 

29.83 16 

29. 99 

30. 16 7 

29.99 in 

29.66 21 



54.7 29.63 29.82 29.75 9 



50.9 29.82 29.91 29.87 4 
49.8 29.85 29.90 29.88 



52. 8 29. 84 29. 99 

i 

51.7 29.55 29.97 

49.4 29.99 30.12 



51 55 52. 6 50 54 51. 6 29. 94 30. 09 
50 56 52. 8 49 53 51. 2 29. 69 29. 89 



04 20 

...23 



1256 12. 64 255 



46 57 5C 

43 57 48. 1 12 53 



52. 3 



49. 2 29. 82 3ft 03 

46. 5 29. W 30. 06 



50. ■ 



29.91 24 16 

2!'. 70 21 5 
30.07 24 4 

30.05 

30.03 1 
29. 88 453 153 



160 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



OCTOBER, 



Winds. 




First part. 




Middle part. Latter part. 


s 
o 
u 

a 

© 

© 

§ 
Pi 


Hours of calm. 


a 
P 


3 
1 

■- 

5 


a 
u 

o 


! 

> 

< 


a 

o 

I 

5 




i 1 

<D ? 

> .= 

«4 ; fi 


© 
o 

5 


© 

1 

> 


Pi « 


1 

ft 

t 

- 




1 


NE. 

C E. 

\ SE. 
SE. 

{ *. j 

V. 

C W. 
\ ENE. 

E. 

NE. 

NE. 

ENE. 

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147 



































AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



Hil 



1880. 



Weather. 





Weather. 




R 
■ 

c 

W 


iin. 


Hours 
of— 


Ther. Wet bulb. 


Barometer. 1: 


First part. 


t 

ft 


u 

o 


•o i 

fl-S 

B a 

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"3 

9 

z 


- 

h3 


ti 

90 
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8 


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7 

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b.c. 


c. 


o. c. q. r. 


8 . 35 9 


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55 49. 7 43 53 


48.2 29.95 30.04 30.01 L r > 




o. c. r. m. 


< o. c. m. ) 

I o. c. d. ra. ) 

o. c. ni. 


o. c. q. r. 


13 . 58 . . . 


. . . 54 


57 55. 5 52 56 


53.9 29.99 30.16 


U 


o. c. r. 


0. c. 111. 


9 .35 4 


...51 


56 53. 5 50 55 


52.4 30.04 30.37 30.27 20 


16 


C o. c. f. ru. ? 
\ b. c. 5 


b.c. 


o. c. p. 


5 .06 13 


...45 


60 52 43 58 


50.6 30.00 30.33 30.13 11 


12 


o. c. r. f. 


0. c. p. f. 


o. o. d. m. 


12 . 15 2 


■~« 


53 49. 9 46 51 


48.629.85 29.95 29.91 22 n 


o. c. p. 


I Vc p - } 


b. c. p. 


5 . 17 18 


...40 


55 47. 3 39 54 


46.129.74 29.9o 29 





b.c. 


b.c. 


b.c. 


1 .04 22 


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51 44. 3 37 49 


42. 3 29. 68 29. S8 29.74 2 


1 


< b.c. p. } 

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b.c. 


b.c. 


1 .001 20 


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56 47. 7 38 52 


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o. c q d. 


o. c. q. r. 


14 .29 1...44 


49 47.6 43 48 45.8 29.93 30.08 29.99 3 


2 


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24 4.10...' .[47 


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4 


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c.p. 


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in 


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8 


2. 25 4 1 45 53 


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18 





b. c. p. 


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1 


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18 
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C o. c. q. r. > 
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2 


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o. c. q. s. 


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20 


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39.7 34:41 


48 29.41 29.60 29.49 24 


o. c. r. h. s. 


0. c. r. 


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11 


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4 


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40. 3 29. 46 29. 76 29. 59 20 2 


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269 


19.82 211 


83 




iT 


"4^6 29.85509152 



S. Ex. Ti- 



ll 



162 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



NOVEMBER, 



Winds. 



First part. 



Middle part. 



Latter part. 



Hours of calm. 

















d 






- 


= 






— 


— 




- 


— 


— 




_ 


- 


- 


— 


s 


^ 



30 



NE. 
ESE. 
NE. 
ENE. 
ESE. 
E. 

SW. 
NE. 
W. 
ENE. 
NE. 

c. 

NE. 

E. 



{ NE. } 



E. 

SE. 

v. 

c. 

c. 

c. 

NE. 

v. 

E. 

{ E. { 

S c. \ 
\ ENE. 5 

) ENE. 5 



1-3 
1-2 
1-2 
1-5 

8-10 

1-6 

3-6 

1-6 
2-6 

1-4 
4-5 

1 

2-5 

4-5 

6-10 
1-2 



SW. 

{ wsw. 5 



i 

l 

1-2 
1-2 
1-2 



1-2 

1 

1-1 

1 



1-7 



1.3 

1.8 

1.2 

3.2 

9 

3.5 

5 

2.7 

4.7 

2.5 

4.6 



3.7 
4.6 



1.2 



1 

1 

1.3 
1.3 
1.5 



1.3 

1 
2.5 

1 



2.7 



v. 

E. 

SE. 

SW. 

v. 



E. 
v. 

{ NE. } 
ENE. 

{ NE. } 
ESE. 
W. 



NE. 
c. 
c. 



ENE. 

c. 

E. 

c. 

c. 

WSW. 

SSE. 

SSW. 

N. 



1-2 

1-2 

5-8 
4-9 



1.2 
1.2 
6.8 



4-6 


4.8 


2-3 


2.5 


2-4 


3 


1-4 


1.7 


4-7 


5.5 


1-2 


1.6 


1 


1 


5-7 


6.3 


4-5 


4.5 


3-4 


3.2 


3-7 


- 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 




i 




1 


1 




1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 



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NE. 
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W. 
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E. 
NE. 

E. 

E. 

E. 
SE. 
SE. 

c. 

c. 

c. 
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c. 



1-2 1.5 

2-3 2.3 

2-4 3 

6-8 7.1 



c. 

SW. 

c. 

c. 

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c. 

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c. 
SW. 



SSW. 
W. 



SW. 
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{ s c b: ! 



{ sw. } 



1-2 

1-2 

8 
1-4 

1-3 



1-2 

1-2 
8-10 



1.3 

1.4 

8 
2.1 

1.6 



3-5 


4.1 


1-2 


1.8 


3-7 


4.8 


1-2 


1.2 


1-2 


1.5 


4-6 


5.1 


3-4 


3.5 


5-8 


3.3 


1-2 


1.2 


1 


1 


1-2 


1.2 



...... 


1 


1 


1 




1-2 




1.5 


2 


2 



1.5 
1.2 



1.2 

1.4 

6 
6 

3.2 

3.3 
2.7 
4.2 
2.5 

1.2 



5.8 

1 
1 
1 
1.3 

1 

1 
1 

1.1 

1.3 

1.5 

1 

1.1 

•1.4 

1.9 

1.4 

2 
6.5 



4 4 

7 12 

5 18 

8 21 



6 17 
6 17 

- .- 
3 14 

6 12 
7 

14 

7 17 



2.5 75 80 100 255 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



163 



1880. 



Weather. 



Weather. 


Rain. 


Hours 
of— 


Ther. 


Wet-bulb 


Barometer, 


Bow t 

of- 


1 

ft 
5 


E 

e3 
ft 
Q 


« 
ft 
u 
S 


1 

o 

w 


HO 

p| 

o.S 

a 
< 


6 
w 


£ 

a 

* 

c 

3 


06 




9 

s 




6 
it 

i 

> 

o 


3 

-3 




T. 

- 
— 




■- 
it 

g 

- 

o 


c 

1 




; 


7 

1 

S 


























o.Jc. d. 


o. c. r. s. 


b. c. 


6 


.41 


7 


6 


35 


42 


38.2 


34 


41 


37.1 


29.31 


29. 65 


29.45 


15 





o. c. s. 


b. C. 8. 


4 


.30 


7 


11 


35 


50 


38.6 


34 


49 37.4 29 69 


30. 09 29. 92 


9 





b. c. 
o. c. q. r. 


o. c. q. r. h. 
o. c. q. r. 


o. c. q. r. 
o. c.r. 


14 
24 


1.21 
4.93 


3 


1 


39 
51 


48 
55 


42,9 
52.8 


88 

49 


47 41.3 29.57 
54 51.6 29.22 


10. 08 29. 85 
29. 51 29. 35 


21 
24 


3 



o. c. q. r. 


o. c. q. r. 


o. c. p. 


13 


2.71 






39 


51 


43.7 


37 


50 42.129.25 


30. 04 29. 79 


24 


o. c. r. ir. 
b. c. s. 

o. c. 
o. c. q. 


o. c. r. m. 

b. c. p. 8. 

o. c. q. 

b. c. 


o. c. q. p. m. 

b. c. 

b. c. q. 

b. c. 


19 

2 


1.09 
.07 
.02 


1 

9 

4 

19 


1 

9 


38 
35 
37 
34 


44 
42 
46 
46 


40.7 
37.8 
43 
41.2 


37 
34 
35 
32 


42 39.5 29.23 
40 36.4 29.73 

43 40.4 29450 
45 38.9 29.49 


29. 94 29. 52 

30. 14 29. 97 
30. 11!29. 79 

30. 07 29. 71 


23 15 

10 

20 

5 


o. c r 


o. c. d. 


o. c. p. 


17 


.19 


3 




36 


46 


41.1 


34 


45 39. 7 30. 10 


30. 33 30. 26 


19 4 


b. c. 


o. c. q. d. 


o. c. q. d. 


6 


.06 


8 




44 


50 


46.3 


42 


47, 44 30.00 


30. 29 30. 10 


16 4 


o. c. q. d. 


o. c. q. r. m. 


o. c. q. r. 


15 


.80 






50 


55 


53.2 


48 


54 51.7.30.07 


30. 16 30. 11 


24 


4 


o. c. q. r. 


o. c. q. r. 


o. c. r. 


23 2.03 






51 


54 


52.6 


50 


53 51. 3 30. 15 


30. 66 30. 38 


24 





o. c. d. 


o. c. r. f. 


b. c. f. 


17 


.27 


6 




46 


51 


48.9 


45 


50 47.9 30.70 


30. 93 30. 82 


18 18 


b. c. f. 


b. c. 


b. c. f. 




.07 


24 




40 


54 


44.7 


39 


52 43.4 30.72 


30. 88 30. 78 


20 


b. c. 


b. c. 
< b. c. f. 1 
i o. c.f. 1 


b. c. f. 




.02 


24 




39 51 


42.6 


38 


50 41.3 30.53 


30. 71 30. 63 


7 


b. c.'f. 


0. c. f. 


3 


12 




35 f 42 


38.6 


33 


41 37 30.26 


30.5130.37 


12 24 


o. c. d. f. 


b. c. 


0. c. 


3 .03 


6 


... 37 44 


40.5 


3G 


43 39. 4 30. 16 30. 25 30. 20 


18 8 


o. c. d. 
o. c. r. 


o. c. r. f. 
o. c. r. f. 


o. c. r. 
o. c. p. f. 


22 .60 
17 .37 




... 40 45 
.. 44 47 


43.2 
45.2 


40 
42 


44 42.4 30.09 30.20 30.13 
46 44. 1 30. 20 30. 27 30. 24 


24 10 
24 14 


o. c. r. 


C o. c. r. ) 
[ b. c. j 


b. c. f. 


11 


.25 12 . . . 36 47 


43 


35 


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12 9 


b. c. 


b. c. f. 


o. c. f. 


... 


.02; 15 . . . 35 45 


37. 5 34 


42 36.3 30.39 30.50 30.45 


9 16 


b. c. f. 


b. c. f. 


o. c. f. 


... 


.02 14 




3341 


37.9 33 40 37.130.33 

1 


30. 48 30. 43 


10 21 


o. c. d. m. 


o. c. d. f. 


o. c. d. 


18 


.28... 




43 48 


45.7 4147 44.7 30.37 


30. 43 30. 39 


24 lti 


o. c. d. 


b. c. d. f. 


o. c. m. 


13 


.14 6 




45 48 


46.4 


44 47 45.3 30.39 


30.50 


30.44 


17 17 


-o. c. d. f. 


o. e. d. f. 


C o. c. d. f. \ 
\ b. c. \ 


18 


.15 4 




44 48 


45.9 


43 47 45 ,30.43 30.5130.47 


20 15 


b. c. 


o.c. 


o. c. d. 


4 


.06 10 




42 47 


44.7 


41 


46 43.7 30.37 30.44 30.41 


14 2 


o. c. d. 


b. c. f. 


o. c. r. f. 


10 


.10 


7 




45 


50 


46.5 


44 


49 45.5 


30. 27 30. 33 30. 30 


17 B 


o. c. r. 


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12 


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29. 76 30. 28 29. 98 


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30. 147 483 248 

1 



164 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



DECEMBER, 

















Winds 














.First part. 




Middle part. 






Latte 


• pan. 




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G4 


IS 




AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



165 



1880. 



Weather. 



Clouds and sky. 



b. c. q. 
b. 

o. c. 

b.c. 
b. e. q. 

b. 

T).c. 

o. c. d. in. 

o. c. q. r. 

o. c. i). q. b. l.t. 

o. c. q. r. 

o. c. q, r. b. s. 

o. c. q. r. 

a o. p. q. s. 

°o. c. p. q. b. s. 

b. c. q. s. 

o. c. q. s. 

o. c. p. li. 8. 
b.c 
b.c. 

b.c 

b.c. 

I J, I 
{ A. } 

b. o. q. 
b.c. 
o. c. 

o. c. q. d. 

0. c. q. r. 

0. c. q. 

C o. c. d. I 

i b. c. \ 



b.q. 
b.C, 

b.c. 

b.c. 

b. c. q. 

b. 

b.c. 

c. c. r. 

o. c. q. m. 
o. c. q. r. m. 

o. c. q. r. 
o. c. q. s. 
o. c. q. r. s. 

1. c. p. q. b. s 

b. c. s. 

b. c. q. s. 

b. o. q. s. 

b. c. q. s. 
b.c. 
b.c. 

b. c 

b.c. 

b.c. 

b.c. 

b. c. q. 
b. 

b. c. q. 

b. c. q. 

b. c. p. q. 

o. c. d. 

b.c. 



Rain. 



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b. 
b.c. 



b.c, 
b. 

b. 

0. C. p. 8. 

o. c r. 
o. c. q. r. 1. 
o. c. q. r. 

o. c. q. b. s. 

o. c. q. p. s. 

o. c. r. 

o. c. p. q. b. s 

b. c. q. s. 

b.c. 

o. c. q. s. 

b. c. s. 
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b. cT 

b.c. 

I V- } 

b. 

b. c. q. 
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b.c. 



Ther. 



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Barometer. Boori 



42 



. . . . 30. 10 30. 46 

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... 29.7330.10 
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: - 



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19 25 
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40.7 3444 

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31.2 
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._ 29.64 

29.6729.83 29.76 

29. 5929. 67 29. 64 

29.8529.59 29. 17 

38.5 29.2829.35 29.32 

44. 3 29. 02 29. 2S 29. 15 

40. 8 29. 25 29. 57 29. 38 

39. 5 28. 58 29. 30 28. 92| 

33. 5 29. 08 29. 46 29. 28 

37.3 28.60 29.41 28.93 



. ... 2 19 29 33 31.3 

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28.8929. 14 20.117 

29. 07,29.22 29.14 

29.22 29.43 29.33 

29.41 29.76 29.58 



32.... 29. 77 30. OS 29.93 
32 30.12 3d.28 30.21 



5.00 



27 33 29. 5 

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24 . . . 23 31 27. 4 30. 06 30. 17 30. 10 



24 . . . 26 35 30 

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29.95 30.07 30.02 
29. 79 29. 95 29. 86 



33 29.7929.86 

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29.90 30.21 



..39.... 29.70 29.89 



44. 4 40 43 40. 5 29. 44 29. 6S 
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29.82 ... 




29. 52 - . - 
29.80 ... 
29. 67 - - 


::: 


29. 93 . . 


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29. 68 





166 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 






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167 






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AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 



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PAET ~V 



GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY, AND OF ITS 
NATIVES AND RESOURCES. 



171 



PART 2. 



GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY. 

DISTRIBUTION OF ITS INHABITANTS, AND THEIR MANNERS AND I 

TOMS. 

The Territory of Alaska lias an area of nearly 600,000 square miles. 
and its name is said to be derived from the Indian words Alas shak 
(great land). 

It extends from latitude 71° 27' north, where at Point Barrow is the 
northernmost limit of the United States, to 51° 12', the southernmost oi 
the Aleutian Islands. And from longitude 130° 02' W. to Cape Wran- 
gell, the westernmost point of the United States, in longitude 187° 34' 
W., covering thus 20° of latitude and 57° of longitude. 

Over 20,000 square miles of its area are comprised in two great archi- 
pelagoes — the Aleutian, which stretches over nearly to Asia, beginning 
at the southern point of Alaska, and the Alexander, which, beginning 
with Tchitchagoff Island, whose northern shore is on Cross Sound be- 
tween latitudes oS° and 59° north, extends to the south waid, merging 
into the Archipelago, lying off the coast of British Columbia from three 
to four degrees of latitude, and of a width of from 50 to 70 miles. 

I would respectfully submit a few facts in regard to this country, its 
natives, and their distribution, and in regard to their customs, manners, 
superstitions, and laws, which I have not as yet described. 

The natives of Alaska are, by the latest authorities, estimated at over 
30,000. These are divided into three great classes, viz : the In units of the 
Yukon District, the Aleutians, and the Sitkans. These classes are sub- 
divided into tribes and families. 

The natives of the Alexander Archipelago are all of theSitkan tribe. 
and are called Chilkhats, Chilkhoots,Hoonahs, Auks, Takus, Stahkines, 
Kootznoos, Kakes, &c, according to the location of their settlements. 

The subdivision into families is a subordinate one in some respects, but 
important in others. Each family has its badge or totem, rude carvings 
of which adorn the door posts, and tablets within the houses. Among 
the totems are the whale, eagle, bear, wolf, sea-otter, frog, porpoise, and 
seal. The family badge has some of the properties of caste marks in 
Oriental nations, 1 and others widely different, resembling more those of 
family crests and coats of arms among civilized nations. 

Members of the same family may not intermarry, and in marrying 
into other families the two totems are combined, and that of the woman 
given precedence. It is quite common to see tablets belonging to the 
older families, on which, surmounting and blended into each other, are 
several of the above totems. 

Alaska, as I have said, is inhabited by from 20,000 to 30,000 natives. 
The influence of the Jamestown has not been felt by over ~*M^ o\' these 
natives, nor have we had any opportunity to come in contact with any 



174 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

■except this small percentage, who dwell in villages on the islands of the 
Alexander Archipelago, and upon the adjacent coast. 

Kodiak and the Aleutian Islands were separated from us by, at the 
nearest point, 500 miles of sea, and it is doubtful if the Creoles, Aleuts, 
Innuits, and Esquimaux, who are natives of these western lands, even 
knew of our presence at Sitka, unless through information obtained via 
San Francisco, by the ageuts of the various commercial companies who 
are located at every advantageous point, and who administer to the 
natives such government as their principals indicate, and in so doing 
receive the assistance of the officials of the Greek Church, which holds 
strong sway over all of its members, of whom it is estimated there are 
10,000 in the Territory, divided into eight " parishes," viz : Xushegak, 
(Bristol Bay), Oonalashka, St. Michael, Bybiloff, Ounga, Kadiak, Kenai, 
and Sitka. 

The country which, fronting upon the Gulf of Alaska, separates these 
two extremes of the Territory, is mostly unexplored, but from what is 
known it is safe to consider it mountainous and sterile, except where 
rivers exist ; and, except a few small villages on the coast, it is probably 
uninhabited. 

A government which could extend its authority from either of these 
extremes, Kodiak or Sitka, would need to be of great magnitude, and 
its edicts would require a naval force to carry into effect. Should a 
system of government be inaugurated which would extend to the in- 
habitants of this Territory the right of suffrage, by establishing " vo- 
ting precincts," it would be necessary that all elections should be held 
long in advance of those in the east, and preferably in the summer sea- 
son, so that the government steamer, which would be compelled to visit 
the many islands to collect the votes, might do so in comparative safety, 
and in each of such precincts the vote would, in all probability, be such 
as Eussia through the official of the Greek Church should direct, for 
very few of the "ten thousand" of our new citizens have any knowledge 
whatever of the laws or customs of their new country, and not one in a 
hundred speaks, not one in five hundred can read or write, our language. 

My knowledge of these Western Alaskans is but limited, and I can 
give the foregoing but as an opinion. 

I will speak more positively as to the peculiarities of those with 
whom I am familiar. 

The native tribes with whom we came in contact, and over whom we 
exercised considerable influence, were the Sitkas, Stahkines, Kootznoos. 
Hoonahs, Chilkats, and Chilkoots, and, through our policemen, who 
were connected with them, the Auks and Yak-e tats to some extent. 

These tribes live in villages consisting of from ten to sixty well-built 
wooden houses, +he timbers of which are from 10 to 20 inches thick, and 
liewed by axes. These villages are always situated on the coast, at the 
base of hills which shelter them, and generally upon level land produced 
by the morains of glaciers, through which streams of fresh snow water 
empty into the sea, and which in season are crowded with salmon, which 
constitute the principal portion of their food, they having, however, in 
-addition, many resources, among which are halibut, herring, and herring- 
roe, and numberless other fish, venison, mountain sheep, seals, various 
oils, and a great variety of berries, also several species of edible fungi and 
sea weeds; and several of the tribes, notably the Kootznoos, Hoonahs. 
and Sitkas, cultivate potatoes, kale, and turnips. 

OCCUPATIONS. 

Early in spring a large portion of each tribe hunt the sea-otter and 
seal for six weeks, during which period the otters gather on the breed- 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 175 

ing ground; then follows a season of halibut fishing and gathering 

herring-roe. The former are very abundant and of most excellent quality, 
and the same may be said of cod-fish and herring. The roe of the latter 

is collected upon bushes which are planted at low- water mark, and which 
in one or two tides are encrusted. 

The salmon season begins in June and extends until September. Five 
species visit the Alaska streams, all of which are most excellent exec].! 
the garbosha or hump-back, which appears in September, at which 
time, however, the best of all, the Kisutch also begin to run, and are 
caught in the same net. 

In fall there is another short season of sea-otter hunting, the pups 
having grown large enough to have commercial value. 

After this season the men employ themselves securing their winter 
supply of fuel; and more or less of them start out on visiting and trad- 
ing trips to other villages. 

As traders these Indians are shrewd and quite reliable; and they un- 
derstand well the value of monopoly, which they maintain by prevent- 
ing the Sticks and other tribes who inhabit the interior from coming to 
the coast with their merchandise, and by so doing become posted as to 
the real value of the same, and as to the advantages from dealing with 
the white traders, without the interference of middle men. 

The interior Indians bring to market a large proportion of the furs 
obtained from land animals and the horns and skins of mountain sheep : 
from the former the Coast Indians make spoons and other utensils and 
charms. 

The Coast Indians procure the otter and seal skins, also considerable 
seal and whale oil, which is worth from 25 to 50 cents per gallon, and 
some walrus ivory and oil. 

lumbers of the Indians are quite expert carpenters, and the logs of 
which their houses are built are hewn very smooth. They make excellent 
canoes, which they dig and burn out from spruce and yellow cedar trees. 
Some of these canoes will carry 50 people, and in them they make long 
voyages. 

There are among them skillful wood and stone carvers, and silver- 
smiths, who make very pretty bracelets, rings, and nose ornaments, 
which are worn by all of the women who can afford them. 

TVhen employed by the whites, if hoo-che-noo be kept away from them, 
they become very valuable laborers, boatmen, and packers, so much so 
that, lacking their cordial co operation, Alaska's resources will remain 
undeveloped. 

clothing-. 

The natural Indian costume of a blanket is fast being supplanted by 
ordinary clothing of laboring whites, and they exchange their products 
for nearly any and every article usually found in a country village store. 

CURRENCY. 

The blanket, worth $3, is the unit of currency ; and various furs, 
canoes, &c, up to slaves, are included at fixed prices in their reckonings. 
Owing to the danger from moths and thieves, stout china camphor 
chests are in demand among them, and a rich man will have several of 
them stowed full. 

ARMS. 

All have knives, which they use on slight provocation among them- 
selves when drunk. They have very few lire-arms, and such as they have 



176 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

are mostly old-fashioned flint-lock muskets, which are preferred to per- 
cussion-locks, inasmuch as flints are plentiful and caps scarce. Very 
few use the bow and arrow, or spear, except in securing seals, sea-otters r 
&c. With their muskets they generally use buckshot, very seldom balls. 

ORIGIN. 

All of the tribes mentioned except the Kootznoos seem to have sprung 
from a common origin ; they speak the same language and have similar 
customs and superstitions, and from these the Kootznoos differ so 
slightly that a stranger cannot detect the difference. Their legend is 
that originally all lived in the Chilkat country ; that there came great 
floods of ice and water, and the country grew too poor to support them ? 
and that many emigrated south ; that the Auks are outcasts from the 
Hoonah tribes, and the Kakes from the Sitkas, and both tribes deserve 
to be still so considered ; that the Kootznoos came from over the sea, and 
the Hydahs, who live on Vancouver's Island, from the south. I have 
imbibed an impression, which, however, I could not obtain much evi- 
dence to support, that all of the tribes except the Hydahs are Oriental. 
In every respect they resemble the Ainos of Japan far more thau they 
do our Xorth American Indians — and that the Kootznoos are of Chinese 
origin ; while the Hydahs, who are superior to all of the others in in- 
telligence and skill in various handicrafts, are the descendants of the 
boat-loads whom Cortez drove out of Mexico, and who vanished to the 
north. 

DOMESTIC RELATIONS. 

There are exhibited in these, several points in which these Indians 
differ from those on our plains and resemble to considerable extent the 
Japanese peasants. Of these, a prominent one is the social position of 
the women, who, as wives, are in all respects of equal importance with 
the husbands, and are very faithful to their husbands — a failure in this- 
respect being punished by death at the hands of the wronged husband — 
while, as single women, professional prostitution does not injure the 
standing. As with the middle class of Japan, polygamy is but little 
practiced, although it is not unlawful, and among the richer and older- 
chiefs it is a quite common practice to take a second young wife, who 
generally accompanies her husband on his travels, the old wife remain- 
ing at home to care for the household. Heirship is determined by the 
degree of relationship through mothers, and a nephew, if the son of a 
sister of a chief, becomes his successor instead of his own son ; a broth- 
er's son is not so treated. 

In one case which came to my notice this custom produced a curious 
complication. The policeman " Dick," who was sent to Chilkat in the 
fall of 1879, was the son of a sister of Klotz-Kutch, the chief, and thus 
had claims to succeed him, which were contested by the sou of Klotz- 
Kutch, who is a disorderly fellow, and through his mother related to the 
Chilkoots ; and it was he who committed the murder which caused the 
Chilkhat and Chilkoot war. Klotz-Kutch favored - k Dick's" claims, and 
when the latter returned to Sitka in spring he brought with him. as his 
wife, his own aunt, who had previously occupied that relationship to 
Klotz-Kutch, who had transferred uer to u Dick," and thus strengthened 
his claim to the allegiance of the Chilkoots. Dick, with a Chilkat aunt 
and a Chilkoot aunt-wife, was thus placed ahead of the son. who pos- 
sessed but one of these valuable relations, and that in a minor degree- 



A.PPAIRS IN ALASKA. 177 

The women dross well and live in comparative Idleness, the < i 
of the men being freely bestowed upon fchera in the shape of fine bla 

ets (profusely decorated with pearl shirt buttons) and jewelry of si] 
of which they wear quantities. A well-dressed woman carries from 
three to seven (always au odd number) of silver bangles on each arm, 
which resemble those worn by young ladies in this city, a large nose 
ring, three or four pairs of ear-rings, and fingers and thumbs full of hea 
rings. The men share with the women the duty of caring for the chil- 
dren, and it is a quite common sight to see a gr< in p, of which the women 
are stretched full Length on their stomachs and elbows, chewinga Dative 
gum, and gossiping, while their babies are being carried and held by the 
men. 

This pleasant condition of affairs ceases, however, when the effect 
hoo-che-noo become manifest. Then the first object upon whom the 
drunken man fixes for outrage is the wife; it seems probable that little 
grudges which have been accumulating then influence him. These 
attacks, however, are not made with impunity. In every household there 
is among the culinary outfit a large, sharp knife used to open salmon, 
halibut, &c. ; this is generally in the woman's possession, and, as she has 
generally drank her full share of the liquor, she does not hesitate to use 
it skillfully and savagely ; and the medical officer of the Jamestown has 
been often called upon to repair very badly cut Si washes; and a very Large 
proportion of the Indian rows Ave have had to deal with have originated 
with drunken women. 

SANITARY CONDITION. 

As a class the Si wash is perhaps as filthy a member of the human 
race as exists. The uniformly cool, damp climate deters them from 
bathing, and they do uot seem to have any liking for cleanliness in any 
form. Their persons, houses, villages, and clothing are always dirty, 
and their habits in many respects disgusting. 

But this condition does not seem to be one which is without remedy. 
It is at its worst in Sitka, where, through contact with low whites, the 
Indians have imbibed, as do all wild tribes, all of the bad and but little 
of the good. 

The northern tribes, who have as yet been but slightly in contact 
with the whites, are the superiors in these respects, and the Hoonah 
village is kept quite clean. Those of the Sitka Indians whom we em- 
ployed soon developed a great fondness for dress, and became as tidy 
and neat as any of our crew; and an eifort which we made to improve 
the sanitary condition by draining the village met with much favor. 

A natural consequence of their mode of living is a great mortality. 
I am not able to give exact figures, but I think 1 am safe in saving that 
the death rate among the Sitka Indians during our stay was at l< 
ten per cent., the causes of death being primarily hoo-che-noo and vene- 
real troubles, inflammatory rheumatism, and pulmonary diseases, to 
which stabbing added quite a number. 

Two deaths occurred by self-inflicted wounds, in pursuance o( a cus- 
tom which somewhat resembles the duello code of Japan. In that 
country a man challenges another and then kills himself, committing 
the hari-kari ; his enemy is bound in honor to follow suit. 

In Alaska an injured Indian shoots himself after publicly announcing 
the cause of the act, and the enemy is bound either to follow the exam- 
ple or pay the full value of the deceased to his family. 
S. Ex. 71 12 



178 AFFAIES IN ALASKA. 

BURIAL CEREMONIES. 

Cremation is the only method which gives to a dead Indian any 
<chance for future happiness. A pile of wood is built back of the house, 
on which the corpse, which has been hoisted out of the house through 
a hole near the roof made for the purpose, is laid, covered with a blanket 
and a little of his finery or arms, and the pile is burned; during the 
cremation a chant is kept up by a hired band of masked men, who keep 
time by beating on a board with staffs. If a murderer has been killed 
by the friends of the victim, and the "families" of both are satisfied, 
the burning of the two bodies under one blanket settles the trouble. 

RELIGION. 

I could not find out much about this. They believe in a hereafter, and 
in quantities of spirits, good and evil; they do not take much pains to 
propitiate the good, but will go to any length to avoid coming in conflict 
with the latter. These spirits, the evil ones, enter into men and women, 
and, according to their natures, make them crazy, or witches, or sick. 

The native doctors, or shamans, are supposed to know all of these 
spirits and to possess considerable control over them, which they exercise 
when paid so to do. There is nothing in their religion which is so well 
founded that the task of substituting a better one is hopeless. A con- 
vert to Christianity does not lose, but rather gains, respect among his 
people. 

One of them, " Chilkoot Jack," had been accused by a miner of having 
stolen his watch. Investigation proved to me that the man had lost 
his watch while drunk, and the Indian had found it. While examining 
witnesses, another Indian testifying, said: "Chilkhoot Jack not steal, 
sir,norlie; he's a convert." They appreciate the advantages of education 
and good conduct; and when the Indian school was established it fur- 
nished me with a powerful weapon. I had but to threaten a man or 
woman that his or her child should not be allowed to attend the school, 
to at once secure promises, generally kept, of amendment. 

Since my return from Alaska, I have learned that a village is in course 
of construction at Portage Bay, where this summer the Chilkats and 
•Chilkoots will live, to permit their children to be taught in the school 
established by the Northwest Trading Company at that place. 

SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. 

There is no one authority supreme over the various tribes. Ea3h is 
independent of all others, with most of which it has ties through inter- 
marriage. Each tribe is composed of several "families," a "family" 
embracing all who are related by blood, primarily through mothers. 

Each "family" is ruled by a leader, who obtains the position either 
through descent, wealth, or force of character — frequently all, and most 
always the first two combined. A council of these leaders, presided 
over by the head of the most powerful family, governs the tribe and 
regulates its intercourse with others. 

The authority of the chief is generally recognized by his "family." 
and that of the council by the entire tribe, but revolts aud mutinies 
occur now and then, frequently produced by ambition on the part of 
young fellows to usurp authority. A fight is the natural result, as the 
revolt has probably been inaugurated at a pot-a-latch, when hoo che-noo 
flows freely, and courage accumulated. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 179 

At a war pot a-latch the women are present, and, by chanting Impro- 
vised songs, stimulate the men to warlike deeds, and arms are distrib- 
uted by the leaders, who have generally a reserve supply. 

At a peace pot-a-latch presents of furs, blankets, &c.. are distributed, 
the first evening by one of the parties to the other, which is reciprocated 
on the next evening. Always among these presents are blankets cn1 into 
strips, which are worn by the women. As drunkenness prevails at ;ill of 
these feasts, it seldom happens that new troubles <lo not arise from them. 
The finishing of a house, the arrival of guests, a funeral, the departure 
of an expedition, are all occasions for friendly pot-a-latehes. The re- 
porting by a member of a family of injury or insult by those Of another 
causes a war feast. 

The chiefs, as a general thing, exert their influence to have injuries 
and threatened wars settled by payments, inasmuch as their share of 
such payments is a large one, pleasant to receive, and if it has to be 
paid the chief receives honor and respect in proportion to the amount 
he contributes, and generally recompenses himself by subsequent 
sessments upon the persons whose misconduct has created the trouble. 

It was impossible to break up the system of pot-a-latches, for the 
decisions there arrived at were respected by all; therefore I endeavored 
to bend them to our needs, for I have been called upon on many occa- 
sions, and in a great many ways not described, to administer justice 
among them and exercise control. In so doing my work at first was to 
a certain extent experimental, and as I experimented I came in contact 
with more or less obstacles, due to their laws, customs, and superstitions, 
which caused their ideas of right to differ more or less widely from my 
own. 

Such laws as they had I found were based upon their conceptions of 
justice, and as far as I could do so I made it a point to recognize those 
laws and strengthen their leaders in causing them to be obeyed. I 
thus received their alliance, and the task of governing many was re- 
duced to that of advising a few chiefs who added their strength to ours. 

Having but the Naval Eegulations and the United States Statutes as 
my guides, I adapted the former to the situation as far as possible, and 
made each chief an executive officer, treating the mass as though they 
were the ship's company. These executives were the leading police- 
men and were furnished with efficient help by the subordinate police- 
men and the Jamestown's crew of Indians. 

I have already stated that, throughout my stay at Sitka, I had never 
cause to doubt the propriety of my having appointed these policemen and 
employed the Indian crew. Daily contact with our officers, marines, and 
sailors, by all of whom they were well liked, did much to civilize quite 
a number of the Sitka Indians ; and of these, some of the more influen- 
tial were useful as leaven among the other tribes; all whom we employed 
becoming strong advocates for the white men. 

Eules which were made for the government of the Indians were modi- 
fied at once if found to be in any way defective. For instance: in my 
first essays at punishing offenders, I endeavored to make the Indians 
understand that such punishment as was administered was final and 
complete; that when the man came out of prison the affair was settled. 
I soon learned, however, that although the Indians apparently yielded 
to this rule, actually they did not, and that subsequently the Offender 
was called upon to submit to Indian law and to make good any damage 
he had done. This was kept secret from me, but was revealed by a man 
through whom I was kept well posted as to all movements. 

On the next occasion when punishment was necessary, 1, without let- 



180 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

ting thein know that I was aware of their irregular proceedings, informed 
the assembled Indians that I had made up my mind that, in future, 
offenses should be first punished by me for the insult to the white gov- 
ernment involved in the offense, and then they were at liberty to settle 
the difference between the two families at a pow-icoio, the conclusions of 
which were to be reported to me, and, if approved by me, carried into 
effect. 

This action was highly approved by all of the Indians, and from that 
date they did not hesitate to solicit our interference in settling their 
disputes, a custom which spread to considerable distance throughout 
the Archipelago. 

Except for trifling offenses, involving but slight punishment, often a 
simple lecture, all accused Indians were given a fair trial in open court, 
which the friends received permission to attend, and where they were 
permitted to question witnesses and make defense, and no man was 
punished unless he was proved clearly guilty. 

During the period of my command I had occasion to inflict about forty 
punishments on Indians. Of these, not one was for any offense com- 
mitted against whites, and but few of the offenses punished were com- 
mitted by sober men. Drunkenness was at the bottom of nearly all of 
the troubles, which consisted generally in fighting among themselves, 
in which fights knives were freely used. 

The whole secret of our success with the Indians has beeu given in 
the last few lines. They received fair play, crimes were punished, good 
conduct rewarded, and they were taught — and some received the teach- 
ing — that the white government was theirs as well as ours and the man- 
of-war their friend, and not, as they had been led *"o believe, their enemy. 

I am fully convinced, however, that I had a strong ally in their nat- 
ural cowardice and fear of the white government. The system of re- 
taliation, or u getting even," causes them to do most of their fighting 
at night, inasmuch as each individual who, even in battle, inflicts in- 
jury, will be held responsible for the same personally or through his 
family, by all of the family of the injured man. 

This fear of future consequences deters them from open fighting, and 
reduces all their wars to secret assassinations, except when through 
liquor they become imprudent. 

They have great fear of rifles in white hands, and upou one occasion 
I could not get an Indian in Sitka to make an attempt to recover a boat, 
stolen from the collector by deserters from the Jamestown, although a 
large reward was offered, because, as they said, "the white men have 
got a rifle with them." 

Before they learned that we had not come to harm them, the approach 
of one of our steam launches to one of their villages caused an imme- 
diate evacuation, all of the inhabitants making for the woods, and had 
we been on a hostile errand, we would lmve encountered only empty 
houses. 

I attribute this wholesome fear of the whites to the thorough punish- 
ment given by Lieutenant-Commander Meade to the Kake Indians in 
1869, the story of which, greatly exaggerated, has spread throughout 
the country, and has produced most beneficial results. 

All of the other tribes dislike the Kakes and admit the justice of the 
punishment, and are disposed to be very careful to never themselves 
incur similar treatment. 

I believe that but for the sharp lesson then given them, the peace 
policy which we adopted would not have proved the success it did. Our 
omission to punish would have been attributed to weakness, and with 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 1 s 1 

the best of them it is necessary ilmt a sense of fear should cause respect. 
to be combined with other reasons for treating the whites as friends. 

Having been well punished, they were for a long time sulky, but now 
advance half-way to meet the hand of reconciliation offered to them l>\ 
a power they know and fear. 

I found it advisable to avoid, as much as possible, coming in conflict 
with their superstitions. I will give an instance of a case where I 
compelled to yield. 

A crazy Indian committed several offenses in the white settlement, 
running about the streets naked, and entering houses. The policemen 
were appealed to by citizens, but refused to take any steps to check him, 
and complaint was made to me. I first ordered them to arrest the man 
and have him kept in the charge of his own family in the Indian ranch. 
This they declined to do, except upon certain conditions to which 1 could 
not accede. As this was the first and only case in * hich they failed to 
do their duty, I gave it a careful examination, and found that the re- 
fusal was caused by fear of becoming crazy themselves should they 
molest the insane man, unless they were permitted to treat him Indian 
fashion, which consisted in binding and torturing the man until he re- 
vealed the name of the animal which had entered into him. 1 le was then 
to be kept bound until one of these animals could be killed and its tongue 
given him to eat, when he would recover his senses. While thus bound, 
and they hunting for the animal, no harm would come to them. 

I believe had I pressed these men to obey my orders they would have 
refused, and one such refusal would have done great damage to our 
influence. 

Finding that only the molesting parties would be subject to the evil 
influence, I took the risk myself, and caused the man to be secured by 
our guard. This was the only time that it was called upon to arrest an 
Indian. 

There is another custom among them against which I could make no 
headway, and therefore did not try, viz: that of owning slaves, which 
is quite common. As the possession of these slaves gave much impor- 
tance to the owners — an importance which it was thought best to foster 
— this problem was for civil law to solve. 

In all of my interviews, the Indians expressed a desire for a govern- 
ment which would restrain bad whites from injuring them, and punish 
such as were guilty, which desire 1 always met by telling them that 
the reason there was no government was the small number of white 
people who lived in Alaska; and that the reasons why more whites did 
not come was because of the policy of the Indians in preventing white 
men from penetrating into the interior, and the reputation which the 
Indians had obtained of being enemies of the whites, and dangerous; 
that the first step toward securing the benefit of a government should 
be a complete change in these respects; and that, when assured of this, 
many whites would come and build saw-mills and salmon canneries, and 
start fisheries and mines, all of which would furnish employment to the 
Indians, and then, when the Washington Government became con- 
vinced that the country deserved it, laws and a government would be 
provided for it. 

The Indians believed what Itold them, and the hopes thus engendered 
have induced them to act as I advised. 

The question as to the form of government which will prove tx 
adapted to meet the requirements of the Territory of Alaska is one up- 
on which I do not feel authorized to express an opinion: but my expe- 
rience, gained by dealing with and controlling the Indian portion oi' the 



182 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

inhabitants, justifies me in saying that, in any code of laws which may 
be devised, their manners, laws, superstitions, and rights of property 
should be taken into consideration. With these recognized as far as practi- 
cable, the Indians will prove of the greatest value in all attempts to de- 
velop the resources of the country. As lumbermen, wood-choppers, 
packers, fishermen, hunters, miners, and in various coarser trades, they 
are needed and will work willingly. 

A failure to recognize their rights will cause a discontent which will 
seriously impede the adoption of the law. The villages have cost them 
a great deal of money; some of the houses at Sitka provide shelter for 
fifty or sixty persons, and have cost two or three thousand dollars — not 
altogether in labor and material, but through their custom of celebrat- 
ing the completion of a house by a house-warming pat-a-latch, when the 
chief pays for the honor of having it considered to be his house by dis- 
tributing valuable presents. Sitka Jack, it is reported, gave away five 
hundred blankets, worth $1,500, upon taking possession of his house, 
which was built by co-operation of all of the members of his family, all 
of whom retain the right to live in it. 

Another point is the advisability that this government should recog- 
nize the power and influence which are held by the chiefs, and secure 
their faithful alliance and powerful influence by giving to tbem posi- 
tions of trust and authority over their own people, and by paying to 
them fair wages for their services as "policemen/' a position consid- 
ered by them as one full of honor, and eagerly sought for by the great- 
est chiefs among them. 

Such government should have power to advance the welfare and civili- 
zation of the Indians, by internal improvements which would give them 
employment, for which most all are anxious, and by fostering schools 
for their children. 

And, first of all, it should have full power to suppress tbe traffic in 
molasses, and to punish on the spot, even to death, any offender, white 
or Indian, according to his or her deserts. 

This civil government should have full power to protect the Indians 
from ill-treatment by lawless whites, and it will need the support of an 
armed steamer to protect innocent whites from attacks of Indians who 
have been injured by others of the white race. 

An occasional visit by this steamer to every village in the Archipelago 
would be productive of much good, and if, as in the English service, her 
commanding officer could be authorised to act as a justice of tbe peace, 
the security and subsequent development of Alaska will be insured. 

The present condition and needs of Alaska, as far as they are known, 
should not be the standard by which the plan of government should be 
measured, for as soon as the protection of law is extended over this 
country it will begin to grow, and a government of sufficient scope and 
power to meet its present needs would soon be outgrown and cramped, 
if, as I believe to be a certainty in the near future, tbe natural resources 
of the country draw to it a population. 

The Aleutian Islands and that portion of the Territory west of Kodiak 
are now subjected to a government which meets with all of its require- 
ments. 

At every station of the Alaska Commercial Company, its ageut, as- 
sisted by the leading official of the Greek Church, has full control, and 
self-interest alone induces a wise and paternal government. 

Nearly all of tbe people derive their subsistence from this company, 
and become its pensioners when otherwise unprovided tor. 

If I may be permitted to use metaphor in ai official document. 1 would 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

say that Southeast Alaska, where in the future our citizens will make their 
homes, stands in a position analogous to thai of a homeless, neglected, 
hungry street child, possessed of qualities, still latent, which Lndical 
possible healthy growth and development, if suit able protection, shelter, 
nourishment, and training be given it. 

If those who would adopt and foster that child should provide it with 
clothing, fitting closely its present emaciated frame, the time would soon 
come when, through the change in its condition, its growth would ne- 
cessitate, first, a letting out, and then new garments. It would not, 
however, be advisable to provide at the outset a suit which would fit a 
full-grown man. 

A simple but strong government, with power of life and death on the 
spot, would soon pay for itself. Such a government would need, during 
its earlier period, the support of an armed steamer, and the time of those 
serving on this steamer could be most profitably employed in surveying 
the many inlets, straits, and harbors of this slightly-known region. 

Through the hydrographic work performed by Commander Meade 
and officers of the Saginaw and of the Jamestown, by aid of the steam 
launches and the hired steamer Favorite, the charts of the Archipelago, 
which ceased to be accurate at the boundary line between the United 
States and British Columbia, have been so completely remodeled that 
one laid aside as unreliable has again been issued, and is now the most 
correct chart of the region. 

The work performed by the Jamestown is shown by the hydrographic 
notices and charts which accompany this report. 

The time is coming, and perhaps is not far distant, when Alaska will 
be needed. 

From a military point of view, her grand total of sheltered bays and 
harbors would prove as valuable to an enemy in event of war with a 
maritime power as they would be detrimental to the interests of our 
Pacific coast. 

With the mills at Seattle, Gamble, and other places on Puget Sound, 
consuming the adjacent forests at the rate of hundreds of thousands or 
feet per day, and perhaps as many falling to the forest fires which 
spring from the woodmen's pipes and camp-fires, and every summer 
cover the surface of the sound with so dense a smoke that navigation 
becomes hazardous, the time is coming when the increased distance from 
the coast will so advance the cost that a search elsewhere will be made, 
and the great forests of Alaska will supply the demand. 

Canneries and fisheries and oil refineries will follow up the saw- 
mills, and utilize the untold wealth now lyiug dormant. 

And a country Avhere, in every direction, auriferous aud silver bear- 
ing ores are found on the surface, and which is known to be rich in 
other minerals, mining enterprises will spring up, and employment will 
be given to the thousands who will seek the land. 

But capital will not come where there is no law to protect it— where 
the punishment of arson or for breach of contract is but public opinion 
or lynch law. And until capital can come and be safe, Alaska must 
w^ait. 

RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY. 

I would respectfully submit a few tacts in regard to the resources oi 
Alaska, many of which are obtained by my own observation, and others 
from souices in which I have confidence. 

The works of Dall, Whymper, Petroff, and of the Coast Survey supply 
vastly more important details, and I shall but attempt to confirm their 



184 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

assertions. As far as they have as yet been developed, the resources 
take precedence in value as follows : Furs, fish, timber, minerals. A 
number of companies, mostly of San Francisco merchants, have been 
organized, and are now engaged in developing these resources. Among 
these companies, those of the greatest importance are: 

DEALERS IN FUR AND GENERAL MERCHANDISE. 

The Alaska Commercial Company, president Gen. John F. Miller: the 
Western Fur Company, incorporated in 1879, with capital of $500,000; 
the Northwest Trading Company, of Portland, Oreg., president Paul 
Schulze, incorporated in 1879, capital, $50,000. 

DEALERS IN FISH, &C. 

Pacific Fish Company, incorporated 1879; the Northwest Packing 
and Trading Companj^, incorporated in 1878 ; cannery at Klawok , Messrs. 
Cutting & Co.; salmon cannery at Sitka. 

MINING COMPANIES. 

The Alaska Gold and Silver 'Mining Company, of Portland, Oreg., 
capital $300,000, and several others, of which I am not sure that the 
stock represents capital. 

FURS. 

Up to the present date the most valuable resource of Alaska has 
been the fur-bearing animals which abound in its woods and waters. 

The forests furnish a great variety of valuable skins, and from the 
waters alone the interest at 4 per cent, on the purchase money has been 
returned to the government by a single company, derived from a single 
animal, the 

FUR SEAL. 

This auimal is gregarious, and strongly addicted to remaining as long 
as possible in a favored locality; there are several of these localities of 
slight, one of great importance. 

On the shores of Saint Paul and Saint George, the two principal 
islands of the Pribyloff Group, which, lying in latitude 56° north and 
longitude 170° west, off the southern mouth of Behring Strait, are be- 
low the line of floating ice of the sea ; these animals resort for breeding 
purposes in such immense herds that the land becomes invisible. They 
are so inert and stupid that were they not protected in some thorough 
manner a very short period would be required to exterminate them, for 
a schooner's crew, composed of the very inefficient sailors who gener- 
ally predominate on board of a whaler, could land and with clubs quickly 
kill a schooner load and frighten away a hundred times as many. 

Fortunately for the seals, and for the government which now derives 
a handsome revenue from them, these islands are controlled by business 
men and the killing done upon business principles. 

The Alaska Commercial Company hold the lease of these islands for 
tweuty years from May 1, 1870. They kill 100,000 yearly, and pay to 
the government a royalty of 82 on each skin, which, with other pay- 
ments by them, amounts to nearly 8300,000 yearly. The agents of the 
company have adopted such systems of slaughter that the herd does not 
become alarmed, and in selecting as they do the young bulls the effect 
of this rate of killing is not detrimental, and the chances are that at 
the termination of their lease there will be as many as when they be- 
gan. 

It is estimated that in addition to the seals killed on th^ Pribylotis 
about 10,000 are obtained yearly from other localities. As these skins are 



AFFAIRS IX ALASKA. 1 8g 

worth from $5 to $15 each before dressing, it is probable thai at Leas! 
$1,000,000 worth are obtained yearly. 

SKA OTTBBS. 

Unlike the fur seal these animals are not gregarious, and although they 

have favorite breeding grounds, these, like the otters themselves, are 
distributed over a vast area, so that " herds " of sea otter are ool found, 
and the pursuit of them becomes a matter of difficult hunting. 

The otters are found in all parts of Behring Sea, from our own coast 
to Asia, throughout the Gulf of Alaska, and as far south as the western 
shores of .Vancouver's Island, where are profitable hunting grounds. 
They are very shy and are generally seen in pairs, and while approach- 
ing certain rocky islets, generally in the vicinity of bays, into which 
fresh-water rivers empty and entice the salmon, upon which they feed- 
Familiar with these favorite spots, companies of canoes assemble in 
their vicinity and stretch out a long distance seaward on the lookout for 
otters, each canoe carrying ten men, two in the bow armed, formerly with 
spears, lately, very frequently with muskets. A pair of otters making 
their way in from sea are discovered, surrounded, and chased till killed : 
the first dive of the hunted animal will last perhaps half an hour, if 
badly frightened, and during this time it has by instinct struck out to 
sea. If, however, when it comes up, the canoes are outside of it, its fate 
is sealed, for its power to remain under has been exhausted, differing 
iu this from the seal. Sometimes it is clubbed to death, at others 
speared or shot; care being taken to avoid hitting anything but the 
head. 

The Indians have a code of laws by which the ownership of the skin 
of an animal captured by the united efforts of many can be decided. 

The wide distribution of the animal and hunting-grounds makes it very 
difficult to obtain any very exact data as to the number of these animals 
killed yearly, and this difficulty is increased by the fact that the Indians 
lie about their luck. If they have got a g od place, they keep others 
from coming to hunt on it by giving it a bad name, and send inquirers 
to unprofitable grounds by exaggerated stories. I found out from a per- 
son who had the confidence of the chief of the Hoouahs, Kah-hoo-dosak, 
that his tribe killed 127 during the spring of 1880. And they had yet 
the prospect of the fall hunting, which it was hoped and expected would 
bring it up to 200. As these skins are worth from $50 to $200 each, say 
$75, the six or eight hundred people who constitute the Hoouah tribe 
are kept very comfortable from this resource alone, and are certainly 
not blamable; if other resources failiug, they go to Avar with the Eng- 
lish Indians, who molest them by shooting their otters, a practice which 
produces great damage, in addition to that of killing more or less otters, 
as the shy animals soon leave a ground where they discover that they 
are molested, and the report of the fire-arms frightens them. This pecu- 
liarity has caused certain places, once favorite resorts, to become com- 
paratively deserted; for instance, on our westernmost island, Atton, 
only seven otters were killed by its natives, who, thus deprived of almost 
their only source of revenue, would be reduced to starvation but for the 
benevolence of the Alaska Commercial Company, which allows to each 
family what may be considered in the light of a pension, unless through 
a revival of the resources the natives become enabled to pay off the 
debts they are steadily increasing. 

The skin of a sea otter is from 4 to 6 feet long, the fur long and dark, 
with many white hairs, and it is, except the royal ermine and the best 



186 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

of Kussian sable, tlie most valuable of all furs, the silver fox coming 
next in Alaska furs. 

Although the otter does not enjoy the protection afforded to the fur 
seal by the wise laws, based upon business principles, by prudent busi- 
ness men, it is to a certain extent protected by its own wariness, and 
was by the United States laws, which made it unlawful for any but na- 
tives of Alaska, afforded still more, but in 1878 the honorable Secretary 
of the Treasury decided that white men, lawfully married to native 
women and intending to remain in the Territory, should enjoy also these 
privileges. The consequence of this decision has been a great increase 
in the number of marriages, little if any change in the domestic rela- 
tions or numbers of half-breed children, and a great slaughter of otters 
which white men, who have gone through the wedding ceremony, hunt 
with rifles to such extent that their early extermination is probable, and 
I received information that parties of white men in San Francisco had 
fitted out vessels, and pretending to confine their hunting to a distance 
of over three miles from the shore, had in reality killed the otters 
wherever found. 

Although it is made the duty of "the officers of the United States. 
who may be in that locality (that of well-knosvn otter-hunting grounds), 
to take all proper measures to enforce all the pains and penalties of the 
law against persons found guilty of a violation thereof," it was not in 
my power to take any steps to prevent these practices until the oppor- 
tunity of hiring the steamer Favorite for the purpose presented itself, 
which was taken advantage of by the special agent of the Treasury 
Department, Major Morris, and myself, as detailed in this report, upon 
the occasion of English Indians fitted out by English white men tres- 
passing upon Alaska grounds. 

Estimates as to the number of sea otters killed annually and their 
value differ greatly. 

I have obtained from "reliable parties" all the way from 1,000 skins, 
worth at least $50,000, to 5,000, at an average of 870 each, or 8350,000. 
When fur dealers thus differ it is hard for an outsider to form a correct 
judgment, but from my knowledge as to the production of the Alexan- 
der Archipelago, I should be inclined to accept the smaller estimate as 
nearest to the truth. Mr. Ivan Petroff places the annual value at 
$120,000. 

OTHER FURS. 

The following list embraces the names of the other fur-bearing ani- 
mals and the value of their pelts, as quoted in the San Francisco 
markets : 

Va]ue. 

Silver fox 815 00 to $60 00 

Cross fox 1 00 to 5 00 

Red fox 1 00 to ^ 00 

Marten fox (called Alaska sable) 2 00 to 10 00 

Minkfox 25to 1 00 

Land otter fox 2 00 to 5 00 

Beaver fox 2 00 to 4 00 

Fishers 2 00 to 6 00 

Wolf 1 00 to 3 00 

Lynx 2 00 to 4 00 

Black bear 3 00 to 10 00 

Brown bear 1 00 to 00 

Cinnamon bear 3 00 to 10 uO 

The annual value of the above furs produced is placed by Mr. Petroff 
at $100,000. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 187 

PISHi 

The waters of Alaska, both fresh aud salt, teem with lish valuable 
food, oil producers, and fertilizers. 

The fresh-water streams are, from June until September, crowded with 
salmon of excellent quality, and trout; of the forme*, live, and of the 
latter as many, species. Salmon, too, throng the bays and Inlets, and 00 
every bank in Behring Sea, the Gulf of Alaska, and throughout the 
inland waters codfish or halibut, according to the nature of the bottom, 
are abundant, and in their seasons immense schools of herring, smelt, 
capelin, lancefish, and dogfish, visit the bays. 

Of shell-fish, there are clams, cockles, mussels, abelones, and pectens. 
Good and abundant edible crabs, too^ are plentiful. 

Whales of several species are abundant in Chatham Straits and ( Iro&s 
Sound, and I have seen twenty in a day. 

CODFISH. 

In commercial value, this fish at present takes precedence. Three 
companies, giving employment to about twenty vessels, control the bulk 
of this trade; these are the Pacific Fish Company (Thomas W. McCol- 
lum & Co.), Messrs. Lynde and Hough, and X. Bichard & Co., all of San 
Francisco. 

The principal fishing grounds are off the Fox and Shumagin Islands 
(near the southern extreme of Alaska peninsula). In this vicinity there 
are a number of productive banks, with depth of water varying from 
30 to GO fathoms. And there is a bank in the eastern part of Behring 
Sea, which has an area of over 18,000 square miles, on which 50 fathoms 
is the deepest water that has been found, and on every portion of which 
codfish are abundant. The cod is found as far north as latitude 58° to 
59°, which is about the southern limit of the floating ice in Behring 
Sea, and as far south as the straits ot Fuca, in latitude 48° 20' north, 
and they are abundant in the Okhotsk Sea, and on several banks in the 
Alexander Archipelago, which as yet have been but slightly developed. 

STATISTICS. 

The first vessel which visited the western banks exclusively for cod 
fishing left San Francisco in 1864, and her trip was made to the coast 
of Kamtschatka and the Saghalien banks. Her voyage occupied over 
five months, and her catch was 120 tons. In 1805, three vessels visited 
the same locality, and brought home 523 tons. In 1866 and 1867, the 
Shumagin banks were first fished, and the entire fleet the first year con- 
sisted of 18 vessels, and the second 23; the catch in 1800 was 1.014 tons, 
and in 1867, 2,164 tons. Making a total of 4,421 tons taken in five years 
by an average of 1L vessels, or about 400 tons per vessel. 

No record was kept of the catch of 1868. In 1869, it is reported as 
1,934 tons, value $200,000. And during 1878 and 1879, the catch is re- 
ported as about 2,000 tons yearly. 

I have no data as to the intervening years, but assuming, as I believe 
I may do, with slight chance of error, that the amount and value of catch 
in the three years given, 1869, 1878, and 1879, represent fair averag 
there has been brought from these banks, fish representing a value oi 
$2,200,000. In addition to the banks named, cod have been caught at 
Nootka, Sitka, Lituya Bay, Yak-etat Bay, Cook's Inlet, and throughout 
the Aleutian Islands. 



188 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

It is believed that two varieties of this fish are obtained, those from 
the Shumagin banks being superior to those of the Labrador and Kani- 
tschatka banks, which is important, inasmuch as the round trip to and 
from the Shurnagins is but comparatively a short one. 

In 1879 the schooner Alfred Adams made three round trips from San 
Francisco in 43, 45, and 40 days, bringing on each occasion 50,000 pounds 
of fish. Such work as this is, however, exceptional. Bait is abundant 
and easily obtainable near the Shumagins ; shell-fish, such as clams, 
cockles, and mussels are abundant and good, and in Southeast Alaska 
salmon is still more so; and during the spring and early summer her- 
ring are. 

SALMON. 

The resources of Alaska in this article are comparatively inexhausti- 
ble. Every stream, from the great Yukan, emptying into the southern 
part of Norton Sound and navigable for a thousand miles from its 
mouth, to little brooks flowing from melting glaciers and snow banks, 
is in its season crowded with salmon, ascending for purposes of repro- 
duction ; and during these seasons the adjacent bays and sea are alive 
with the salmon, whose presence is made manifest by the leaping in 
their pursuit of immense herds of porpoises. 

Were it not for the provision of nature, which causes death to occur 
soon after spawning to a very large proportion, the seas in this vicinity 
might become unnavigable. I have experienced great difficulty in wad- 
ing certain small streams, through the quantity of salmon which it was 
necessary for me press my way through. And in some of these streams, 
had the water been suddenly withdrawn and the fish left dead. I could 
have walked three or four miles without touching my feet to anything 
but salmon, .and I could not have avoided such touching in walking two 
yards. The banks of these streams, and the adjacent moraines through 
wiiich they flow, are literally covered with the remains of those that 
have died. 

The salmon of Alaska have not been scientifically classified, but from 
my own observation, and information obtained from the superintendent 
of the salmon cannery at Old Sitka, and from Eussian fishermen, 
I believe that there are at least five distinct varieties making their 
appearance at different periods. Early in Juue a very fine salmon, the 
quinnat, called by the Russians chowchou. begins to run, the kikoff 
succeeds, and is followed in July by the crassena rebia (red-fleshed), 
and in August the garbosha (humpbacked) begins to run, and lasts 
about five weeks, during which time the kischutch, or black-mouthed, 
have their season. 

The garbosha is a coarse fish, and unfit for canning, but it is the fav- 
orite of the Indiaus, who lay up great quantities of it for winter's use. 
The kischutch is considered the best table fish, and is held at a much 
higher price. An ordinary 10 or 15-pound salmon is in Sitka worth about 
as many cents; a kischutch of 10 pounds cannot be bought for less than 
two bits (25 cents). 

STATISTICS. 

There are two establishments in Southeastern Alaska where salmon 
are canned ; one about 9 miles west from Sitka in Hunter's Bay, or Old 
Sitka, owned by the Messrs. Cutting & Co.. of San Francisco, and one 
at Klowock, or Prince of Wales, owned by Messrs. Sisson. Wallace & 
Co. Both of these establishments depend to a great extent upon Indian 
labor, each employing, however, a few white men. The Indians have 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

proved intelligent and expert, in all of the various processes from the 
catching of the fish to the making cans and canning; fchej are paid v i 
each per day, and were it not for their being addicted to hoo-che-noo, 

would give entire satisfaction 

One Indian, whom I knew, bought from the Sitka cannery a net and 
outfit for $200, for which he was given credit, and, daring the Bummer of 
1879, with five employes of his family, he paid for the outfit and ob- 
tained a credit of $400 for fish delivered. 

Two of Messrs. Cutting's boats, manned by two whites and ten Indi- 
ans, whose combined wages amounted to $1G per day, caught and de- 
livered thirteen tons of marketable salmon, and they probably gave away 
to the old men and women, who in their canoes follow the fishermen, fully 
a ton of fish which were unsuitable, or, as expressed, u had began to dog." 

Although it has been decided by experts that the " dog-salmon *' is a 
separate and distinct species, the fishermen at Sitka use that term to 
describe the condition of any or all of the species which have begun to 
suffer the deteriorating change due to (in their belief) contact with fresh 
water. Such fish are not canned, and the trained eye of an expert selects 
unerringly from the struggling mass such as present indications not 
perceptible to a non-expert. 

If the opinion of these fishermen is correct, it would seem to follow 
that the salmon of Alaska, caught in the salt water of the ocean, are 
superior to those obtained at the fisheries on the Columbia and other 
rivers where they are taken in brackish water. There are several estab- 
lishments in the western part of Alaska where salmon are put up in 
barrels. The Alaska Commercial Company, the Western Pur Company, 
and the American Eussian Company put np large quantities at Radish 
and Cook's Inlet, and private individuals also participate in this busi- 
ness. 

In February, 1879, a Mr. Hirsch, of San Francisco, chartered a schooner 
and proceeded on a salmon-fishing trip to Kadiak. He returned in 
August with 300 barrels, caught by his crew aided by natives. 

The pack of the two canneries in Southeast Alaska were, for 1878, 8,500 
cases; for 1879, 12,000 cases; the amount packed in British Columbia, 
Oregon, and all sources, being, in 1878, 629,000 cases; 1879, 527.000 
cases, of which the export was, in — 

1878. 1879. 

Oases. < 

Atlantic States , 87,000 141,300 

Europe... 455,000 320,000 

Australia 49, 000 14. 000 

China and elsewhere •"». 240 3, 760 

596,240 470.810 

The falling off being due to a partial failure of the season of 1879 in 
Puget Sound, British Columbia, &c. The amount packed at Mnskeeto 
(the principal station in Puget Sound) being 25,000 cases, as against 
105,000 cases in 1878, and at Frazer Elver 1,300 cases, as against 7. 000 
cases in 1878. 

The cannery of Messrs, Cutting & Co., at Old Sitka, was not operated 
in the summer of 1880, the reasons assigned being the difficulty expe- 
rienced in getting the new article, Alaska salmon, into the market some 
weeks after the canneries further south, whose products had established 
a reputation, had fairly supplied the demand : and secondly to the high 
price of tin and freight to Sitka. 



190 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

It was hoped that the action of Congress in regard to a bill then pend- 
ing, which would allow a drawback on tin, would be such as to reduce 
its price. A bill to this effect was passed in March, 1880, and the result 
will be undoubtedly beneficial. 

It is possible that the entire export of salmon from Alaska does not 
now exceed in value $50,000 yearly, but there is no reason why, if a 
market can be found for this fish the business should not be increased 
many fold. The supply is inexhaustible. 

HALIBUT. 

But little endeavor to develop the halibut fisheries of Alaska has 
been made, but from my own personal observation I am convinced that 
in certain parts of Alaska these fish are so very abundant, and of such 
excellent quality, that in time they will rate high among the resources 
of the country. 

In the neighborhood of Sitka they can be caught in from 5 to 20 
fathoms water, weighing from 40 to 500 pounds, and they form an im- 
portant portion of the food of the Indians, who smoke and dry the flesh. 
The Indians sold them to us at about half a cent a pound, and the sail- 
ors found no difficulty in catching large numbers. I learned of but one 
attempt to make them an article of commerce. In July, 188t), the 
schooner General Miller, of San Francisco, fishing with trawl lines, and 
using salmon for bait, and in the vicinity of Sitka and Biorka Island, 
filled up in about six weeks. 

The halibut and cod fisheries of Alaska are much easier of access 
and more free from danger than those on our eastern coast, and the 
labor and expense involved are much less. 

Nearly all of the fishing banks are near to safe harbors, where the 
schooners can lie and send out the dories, but a short distance to the 
grounds. And generally the time from Saturday night until Monday 
morning is spent in comparative comfort and rest. 

During 1879 there did not occur a loss of a life at any of the Alaska 
fisheries. During the same year thirteen vessels of the Gloucester 
fieet were lost, and with them 143 lives. 

TIMBER. 

The information I have obtained by personal observation as to the 
timber resources of Alaska is but slight, my duties having confined me 
to the vicinity of Sitka, and to short cruises among the islands of the 
Alexander Archipelago. I have, however, seen sufficient to authorize 
my acceptance of the accounts given by others, from which I shall make 
extracts. 

From my own knowledge I am able to say that the shores of both sides 
•of the strait, running almost continuously from Chilkhat, in latitude 
north to Cape Fox, the southern extreme of the coast line, called Lynn 
Canal, Chatham Strait, &c, the shores on each side of Peril Straits and 
Cross Sound, of the large islands Prince of Wales, Kon, Baranoff, Chi- 
cagoff, Kruzoff, and the entire surface of smaller islands, are covered 
with a dense growth, consisting principally of spruce, hemlock, and yel- 
low cedar. 

Parties from the Jamestown have penetrated the islands of Baranoff, 
Kruzoff, and Chicagoff several miles by following up river beds in ra- 
vines, and have not come to the end of dense forests, principally of the 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 191 

spruce and hemlock, with more or less of the yellow cedar, which La oof 
as plentiful as the others. Many logs of spruce and hemlock, containing 
from 3,000 to -4,000 feet of lumber, were cut by the miners during the 
winter of 1879-'80, and delivered at Sitka for about $20 each, they hav- 
ing been procured within a few miles. This growth of timber covers the 
sides of the mountains to a height of about 4,000 feet in the vicinity of 
Sitka, which height diminishes as we go to the north ward, or far enough 
into the interior to lose somewhat the effect of the warm vapors from 
the Kurosiwo. 

After passing the latitude of the eastern entrance of Gross Bound 1 
57° 50', the timber line becomes reduced to less than 1,500 feet of alti- 
tude, the low temperature produced by the many glaciers affecting the 
growth, which is also diminished by the smaller amount of evaporation 
and precipitation, the surface of the sea being covered in summer with ;i 
layer of pea-green, fresh, and brackish water, the former coming from the 
glaciers in many little rivers, and the latter by its admixture with t la- 
salt water; and at the head of Lynn Canal, at the Syya Inlet, I judged its 
height to be about J ,000 feet; this in latitude 59° 15' X. ; and in this local- 
ity, although the growth of the trees was not so great as further soul h, 1 
saw many from the water, and so close to it that gravity and proximity 
would eliminate the necessity of manual labor to launch them, which 
were over three feet in diameter ; also quantities of birch and alders of 
small size. 

Spruce ranks first as to abundance, yellow cedar first as to value of 
timber; hemlock is in quantity between the two, and in value third: a 
position however, which will be reversed if tanneries ever are erected 
in Alaska, and a bark" becomes a demand. 

spruce. (AMes menzem.) 

This tree is known locally as Sitka pine, and resembles very much 
the spruce or fir obtained in Puget Sound and called the " Oregon pine." 

Along the coast and edges of waterways it grows to a height of from 
100 to nearly 200 feet, and it excites sensations of wonder to see these 
immense trees, from 4 to 6 feet in diameter, growing upright on sides of 
mountains so precipitous that it would hardly seem possible for a sap- 
ling to find support. Back from the coast line, where the forests are 
dense and the sunlight seldom penetrates, the trees are smaller and 
grow close together in abundance. The dimensions I have given are 
extreme. T would estimate the average dimensions of these trees at 
about 100 feet height and less than 3 in diameter. 

The wood resembles white pine, and is strong, tough, and durable, 
and would undoubtedly prove fully as valuable for ship-building as the 
" Oregon pine." The Indians use this timber to build their houses, and, 
it being very straight-grained, they are able to hew it with axes into 
timbers, thick boards, stakes, and shingles. It is excellent fuel : the 
steamer Favorite uses it in preference to coal, and throughout Sitka it 
takes the place of the latter in all houses heated by Russian stoves; the 
Indians cut and deliver it for from $2 to $1, in trade, per cord, or about 
half those prices in cash. The trunks are too thick in proportion to 
their length, and the taper is very gradual. 

Felled trees, which were measured by parties of the Coast Survey were 
180 feet in length and 1 feet at butt; others still standing butted ('» feet. 
and were tall in proportion, and bare of branches for r>0 feet from the 
ground. 



192 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

HEMLOCK spruce (Abies Mertensiana.) 

This tree is very abundant, but it is not very valuable; it grows to a 
height of 80 to 100 feet, and is frequently branched nearly to the ground ; 
the trunk is slender, seldom above 2 feet in diameter, and very knotty, 
which prevents its being adapted for spurs. Specimens which came 
from Kadiak gave, however, better results than those above given. 
Some of these seen by the Coast Survey party in 1867, in the governor's 
yard at Sitka, in the shape of masts and spars, were of much greater 
dimensions, and with taper less abrupt. 

yellow cedar (Cypressus ~KutJcatensis.) 

This, which is probably the most valuable of the timbers of Alaska, 
and a tree which is not found elsewhere, does not exist in any great 
quantities in the vicinity of Sitka. Much of the information which I 
have obtained in regard to it was derived from Prof. John Muir. who, 
having made a number of extensive trips throughout Alaska, has not 
failed to utilize his botanical knowledge ; and having been in his com- 
pany considerably I have obtained advantage from it. A letter from 
him will lose much of its value, if not given, as I shall give it, nearly 
entire. 

[Letter of Prof. Muir.] 

The most important of Alaska trees measured by the value of its timber is the yellow 
cedar or cypress (Gypressus Xutkoteusin), a truly uohle tree, attaining a height of 150 
feet, aud a diameter of from 3 to 5 feet. * * * The wood of this tree is undoubt- 
edly the best the country affords, and one of the most valuable to be found on the 
Pacific coast; it is pale yellow, close grained, tough, durable, aud takes a good polish, 
and has a pleasant fragrance, like that of sandal wood. * * The only California 

wood which resembles it is the torrega, but of this the trees are small and scattered 
in the canons. 

Three or four ships have been built of yellow cedar, and small quantities, a few 
thousand feet at a time, have been sent to Portland and San Francisco, from Sitka. 
Wrangell, &c, probably less than a million feet in all. Some little goes to China and 
is made into fancy boxes. It is said to be returned to us as camphor wood. It deserves 
to be far better known not only to ship builders, but to carpenters and furniture 
makers. The Indians make their paddles of it, and weave mattiug aud coarse cloth 
from the inner bark, which is quite durable. * * * 

The durability of this timber is forcibly illustrated by the fallen trunks lying in the 
damp woods. Many of the largest of these last for centuries, retaining the delicate 
color and fragrance unimpaired. Soon after falling they become overgrown with moss, 
in which seeds lodge and germinate and grow up into vigorous saplings, and ;is these 
grow larger they stand astride the parent trunk, their roots stretching to the ground 
on either side, and when these have reached the age of several hundred years tbe down- 
trodden trunk, when cut into, will be found as fresh at the heart as when it fell. Tin- 
species is found as far south as Vancouver's Island, and is pretty generally distributed 
as far north as Sitka — how much further I am unable to say. But though its rai i 
thus extensive, it does not seem to be very abundant at any one place. 

I can add to the foregoing that I have seen this tree growing in 
patches, surrounded and generally fronted by the spruce and hemlocks, 
as far north as latitude o$° 45', on the shore near William Henry Bay 
(Sitka is in 57° 02' X.), and I think that I saw it on the southern shore 
of Cross Sound. The reputation of the wood of the yellow cedar as to 
durability is well deserved. 

In 18G7 the Coast Survey party " obtained and forwarded a piece of 
the keelson and frame of one of the Russian American Company's 
small vessels, which was constructed of this wood thirty-two years ago, 
and which had been lying a wreck upon the beach for several years." 

In 1879 I was shown another piece from probably the vessel referred 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 198 

to, which had been exposed nearly ten years longer. The description of 
the condition of the first piece will fit that of the second: 

It exhibits not the least sign of decay or teredo attacks ; the * pod around the cop- 
per and iron bolts is nearly as well preserved as on the day t hej w ere drli 

And in the vicinity, the spruce crib-work, tunning- the foundation of 
this wharf at Sitka, was honeycombed by the teredos. 

There is no doubt but that the wood will prove of great value for .ship- 
building. 

Although the foundations of nearly every Russian-built house in Sitka 
are badly decayed, wherever a yellow cedar log has been used it remains 
sound. The Indians destroy great quantities of this tree in procuring 
the bark, of which, in addition to the manufacture of cloth and mats', 
they make from the outer bark roof and canoe covers. 

red cedar (Thuja gig ant ea). 

This tree, which is an arbor vitne, is not as abundant as either of the 
three mentioned, but it is very generally distributed. It is used for the 
manufacture of canoes, and from it the largest and best are constructed, 
some over GO feet in length and 8 feet in beam. 

The spruce and yellow cedar are also used for this purpose, but are 
not considered so valuable as this tree, the wood of which is soft and 
easily worked. 

OTHER TIMBER. 

Professors Muir, Dall, and others describe several other species as 
existing in the interior. Muir says: 



Of pines I have seen but one species ( P. contorta), a few trees of which, oO or 60 feet 
high, may occasionally be found about the open edges of lakes aud bogs. Iu the in- 
terior, beyond the mountains, it forms extensive forests. 



A fir like Picea grandis is common on the mountains of the mainland. It is usually 
quite small, and seldom found to exceed a height of 60 or 70 feet, and the timber is of 
inferior quality. 

SPRUCE. 

And up on the cold caiion sides, upon the banks of the glaciers, there is a very 
handsome little spruce, like the Williamsons of the upper forests of the Sierras. 

According to Dall and Kellogg there grows in the vast region drained 
by the Yukon the white spruce (Abies alba). Muir states that he saw 
this tree on the arctic divide, near the headwaters of the Yukon, and thus 
describes it: 

The tallest are about 125 feet high; it is an exceedingly slender tree, erect, and 
closely clad with short leafy sprays, forming the sharpest and most arrow-like spires 
I ever saw in any forests. Some of this inland timber may some time be made avail- 
able for spars, by floating it down to tide water. 

HARD WOOD. 

I could obtain no information as to the existence anywhere in Alaska 
of hard wood of any value. I have seen small birches, alders, and crab- 
apple trees, and the two former as far north as the Ohilkhoot Inlet, near 
its head, in latitude about G0°. 
S. Ex. 71 13 



— 



194 AFFAIRS IX ALASKA. 

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 

These — as it is but natural to expect in a mountainous country, of 
which the southern point is in nearly 50° north latitude, and of which 
the greater portion is north of 60°, and fully two-thirds in the frigid 
zone, its northern point being the northernmost of the United States — 
are extremely limited, but they are not, as has been persistently stated 
by " authorities on Alaska," "mill and void." 

The warm vapor which constantly rises from the Kuro Siwo, a great 
river of warm water which washes its southern coast, does not exhaust 
its efforts in the production of the great forests which have been described. 
Its moisture and its warmth combined give to the thin soil wonderful 
powers of producing such vegetables and plants as need these two con- 
ditions. My personal observation is limited to the Alexander Archi- 
pelago, but it enables me to give the most unqualified contradiction to 
many statements which have been made in official reports, and articles 
in magazines and newspapers. 

Farming, as a business, will not pay in Alaska, but any man living 
almost anywhere in Southeast Alaska can by an intelligent use of two 
hours a day secure for himself and family a bountiful supply of most 
excellent vegetables. I know numbers who have done this, and, except 
that my labor was by proxy, have done it myself. 

The Aleutian Islands are devoid of timber and sterile, but Kadiak is 
a fertile island, where vegetables, hay, and cattle can be raised, and are 
raised annually. 

On the mainland adjacent to the Archipelago, and on the islands, 
wherever the sun's rays can get through the thick foliage the ground 
responds, and, drying quickly after every shower, becomes clothed with 
verdure. 

Along all of the river courses the banks are covered with wild flowers 
and berries; and upon the alluvial flats, which have been deposited by 
the action of advancing and left by receding glaciers, which are termed 
"moraines," timothy, wild barley, red and white clover, and great 
varieties of berries and wild flowers grow in profusion. 

In latitude 69° north I have walked for miles on a meadow where the 
timothy and barley reached above my head, and so plentiful that my 
progress was impeded by them. The forests are full of deer, which ob- 
tain good pasturage the year through ; and there are innumerable 
flocks of ptarmigan on the mountains, and grouse in the lower lands, 
who find abundance of food from the berries, of which there are blue- 
berries, cranberries, blackberries, sahnonberries, and several varieties 
peculiar to the country. 

Near several villages of the native, notably those of the Kootznahoos 
and Hoonahs, are plots of ground under cultivation, which yield fair 
crops of potatoes and turnips, although the methods of cultivation 
pursued are so primitive that good results could not be expected. For 
instance, potatoes are sowed whole and broadcast, and no labor expended 
in cultivation until, when dug in September, they are found to merit the 
description of Elliott and others as " small watery walnuts." 

Even during the period of occupation by our troops gardening was 
discouraging work, aud I have beeu informed by officers who were sta- 
tioned at Sitka that their efforts were rewarded by worthless potatoes, 
lettuce, and cabbage which would not head, and watery beets, turnips, 
and radishes. 

But this state of affairs does not now exist, whether it be due to 
change of climate, through the clearing away of many acres of forest 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 1 !'.', 

land, or to improved methods, I cannot say ; bud far sever*! years p 
excellent vegetables, such as potatoes, cabbages, &c, have been raised 
yearly in the vicinity of Sitka and Wrangoll. 

Undoubtedly there is less rainfall than formerly existed—that is. if 
the data previously accumulated is correct. 

Liitke records in two years an average of 117 days of continuous rain 
or snow each year. Our observations, taken hourly, give hut 24 Bneh 
days in eighteen months. 

In the neighborhood of Sitka there are a large number of plots under 
cultivation. I have myself seen, two seasons in sueeession, growing in 
the gardens of Messrs. Schmeiz, Faley, Travis, Millelieli. Collector Ball, 
and my own, lettuce of several varieties one heading like a small <• 
bage; cabbages a yard across before they began to head, and 8 to 10 
inches in diameter headed; cauliflowers weighing from 10 to 15 pounds: 
early rose and peachblow potatoes, ranging from 3 to 30 ounces each, and 
each hill yielding over half a bucket full ; turnips of very large size, and 
cress, radishes, &c, in profusion ; green pease of excellent quality; and 
beds bordered by gooseberries and currant bushes, producing loads of 
fruit. 

My lettuce-bed kept me supplied from June to September, and my 
table was always well supplied with most excellent home-raised vege- 
tables. 

Within a distance of 20 miles from Sitka there are three or four thou- 
sand acres of fair agricultural land, if properly drained. 

On the island of Biorka, 10 miles to the south, there is a farm owned 
and managed by Indians, and devoted principally to potatoes, cress, 
turnips, and cabbage; this farm covers at least 46 acres, and on Ja- 
ponsky and several of the larger islands in Sitka Sound and Bay are 
flourishing gardens. 

The season of sunshine is too short for success with cereals ; but judg- 
ing by the luxuriant growth of the self sown wild barley on the moraines 
it seems likely that some of the hardier kinds could be advantageously in- 
troduced. Celery, green pease, and string beans have been raised, but 
not with encouraging success. 

The Katliansky plains, near Sitka, which twelve years ago were broken 
up and sowed with timothy by a pioneer named Doyle, are each year 
covered with a heavy crop of grass, from which thirty to a hundred tons 
per season have been cut. 

Everj^ Creole house has a garden, and in it roses, pansies, and all of 
the hardy annuals are cultivated successfully. 

On the whole, whatever they may have been, the agricultural re- 
sources are not now nil. 

MINERALS. 

The mineralogical resources of Alaska have as yet to be determined 
and developed. There are in regard to their value widely differing 
opinions entertaiaed, not only by those who know nothing upon the sub- 
ject, but by others who have had more or less opportunity to obtain in- 
formation. 

Certain authorities who have visited the sea-coast and islands assert 
with positiveness that the resources in this respect are of no value and 
sustain their arguments to this effect by the apparent while unex- 
plained reason that, during their long occupation of the country, the 
Russians not only failed to discover valuable minerals, but, further, the 
researches of a Russian engineer, appointed by his government to make 
a mineralogical investigation of the country, resulted, after two year 



196 AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 

devoted to the research, in an unfavorable report. On the other hand 
geologists of repute, among whom 1 may mention Prof. W. H. Dall, of 
the Coast Survey; Prof. John Muir, State geologist of California; and 
many practical miners, who are unknown to the public, but who are 
excellent judges of mineral deposits and formations, all of whom have 
explored the country quite thoroughly, unite in the opinion that there 
are strong probabilities that Alaska is rich in precious metals. 

I do not propose to collect evidence on the subject, but will briefly 
give a few of the reasons which cause my opinion to coincide with those 
of the last-named persons: First. The careful investigations of the offi- 
cers of the Coast Survey, a summary of which is given in the Alaska 
Coast Pilot, indicate that coal, copper, and iron are to be found in 
localities described; secondly, the information given to me in person by 
Professor Muir, who, among other things, expressed to me in September 
last his confidence that the lodes of Xevada extended through Alaska, 
and that the ledges on Baranoff Island were of the same formation ; 
also that he was confident that somewhere on the mainland not far from 
Sitka there would be found valuable gold deposits; also by information 
from the miners and prospectors ; and. thirdly, from my own observations 
upon visits to the mineral regions in the mountains. 

Before doing so, I will endeavor to make it apparent why the Rus- 
sians and the Russian engineers failed to discover minerals. 

The country was controlled by the Russian Fur Company, which de- 
voted its energies to the development of the fur trade — its legitimate 
business — and to the prevention of search tor mineral lands, every acre 
of which, if found, would, by the terms of the permit, revert to the Rus- 
sian Government, and naturally the company was averse to any enter- 
prise which tended to lessen its power, influence, and revenue. 

From old Russian Creoles of intelligence who lived in Sitka during the 
Russian rule I learned that, from time to time, reports and specimens of 
ores were brought in by Indians and traders. The reports received no 
attention, and the quartz specimens were considered to be marble, of 
which there are several known quarries in the neighborhood. 

In 1855, an engineer officer, named Darreham, was detailed to ex- 
plore the country, and to report on its minerals. Two years were by 
this officer devoted to the carrying out of his instructions, and in 185S 
he sent in his report, which was unfavorable. During the two years 
there were not over ten months of suitable weather for prospecting, and 
the officer had but few assistants with knowledge on thesubject. A 
large proportion of his summer work was devoted to visits to Kadiak 
and other islands, to Cross Sound, Pent Straits, and Whale Bay, in 
none of which have any of the prospectors who have since followed his 
route been able to find any deposits of value. He never visited the 
mountains on Baranoff Island, where since the date mines apparently of 
value have been discovered, and more or less developed. His winters 
at Sitka were, as was natuual, occupied in festivities. 

In 1868, the country was transferred to the United States, and since 
that date a number of discoveries of value have rewarded the prospect- 
ors, none of whom were by the Russian governor permitted to go into 
the interior of the island. 

In 1871 a soldier, named Doyle (who died at Sitka a few months after 
giving me the following information), discovered the first gold-bearing 
quartz ledge in the vicinity of Sitka. He also found some little gold in 
a creek which emptied into Silver Bay, to the eastward of Sitka. The 
quartz specimens that he brought in were not valuable, although they 
contained some gold, and little notice was taken of the matter. 



AFFAIRS IN ALASKA. 1!»7 

Iii 1872 Doyle, accompanied by Mahoney, another soldier, made another 
trip to the mountains, and procured more specimens from the ledge, but, 
as they were intent on placer prospecting, they were unprovided with 
tools, and procured but little rock. This, being exhibited in the Baloon 
of Samuel Millelich, attracted the attention of another soldier, Darned 
Nicholas Haley, who had previously been a miner in Nevada, and he 
being thus familiar with "rock" considered that the sulphurets visible in 
the specimens indicated value, and a party of soldiers, accompanied by of- 
ficers, made a ten days' visit to the ledge, of which nine were spent in 
clearing away trees and sod. On the tenth, they having developed a 
ledge of quartz about 11 feet wide between well-defined slate walls, a 
blast was made in the " pay- vein," and from the rock thrown out and 
broken up about $60 worth of free gold was obtained. From the date 
of the return of this party, until fall in 1879, parties prospecting the 
mountains have discovered a large number of ledges on the same range, 
many of which have proved by assay to be rich in gold. 

The unsettled condition of the country prevented the few capitalists 
who had any faith in the discoveries from venturing to develop any of 
these ledges except one, which has been slightly worked by a company, 
which has built a 20-stamp mill and produced considerable gold — not 
enough, however, to pay, there having been a great deal of mismanage- 
ment and suspected misappropriation of the proceeds by the employes of 
the company. 

Haley discovered a number of ledges of apparent value. Oneother, the 
" Witch," which is, I believe, owned by him alone, is apparently a rich 
pocket mine, which has furnished a large quantity of nuggets of free 
gold. During the summer of 1880 Haley, assisted by his family, has 
taken from this mine daily an average of an ounce of gold, obtained by 
crushing in a hand mortar the decomposed quartz, and treating it with 
mercury, thus obtaining the free gold only.* 

Haley's statement to this effect I obtained confirmation of to a cer- 
tain extent from the parties who bought his amalgam, and by my per- 
sonal experience in crushing and treating under his supervision, in his 
cabin, five pounds of rock taken at random from a bag-full, which yielded 
me 34 grains of pure gold. 

A collection of specimens from a number of the Baranoff ledges were 
obtained by me by breaking them off myself. Some of these proved by 
assay at San Francisco to be worth from $10 to $500 per ton, and 
others were forwarded by me to the National Museum and to the Navy 
Department in October, 1879. 

The heavy snowfall of winter of 1879 put a temporary stop to all pros- 
pecting of Baranoff Island, and thus left idle in spring a large party of 
miners, whose services were made useful by us in forming of them the 
Pioneer Chilkhat Expedition, fully described in this report. 

At the date of my detachment in September the parties were still ab- 
sent in the interior, reports being received from time to time that the 
Indians were loyal to their promises, and giving them good treatment 
and aid. 

Six weeks after my departure one of the prospecting parties discov- 
ered in the neighborhood of Douglas Island, near Taku Inlet, ledges of 
auriferous quartz, of such value that the stories received by me in my 
letters, and others which have been widely published, sound too extrava- 
gent to justify me in giving them place here. 

The ledges are about 140 miles from Sitka, and about in the range ex- 
plored by Professor Muir. 

All of the people of Sitka and Wrangell have so much confidence in 
S. Ex. 71 11 



198 AFFAIRS IX ALASKA. 

the value of the discovery, that extensive preparations are being 
made for a wholesale emigration this spring to the new town of Kock- 
well, which, in January, consisted of twenty-five houses, with lumber, &c, 
on hand to build a great many more. It is probable that ere this it has 
grown greatly, and that miners from the Pacific coast are flocking to it, 
steamers and sailing-vessels advertising for passengers to "the new El 
Dorado." 

When the snow melts it is to be hoped that Alaska will take its first 
step upward, and that this legitimate result of the " operations of the 
Jamestown" may be crowned with success. 

There will be no law or government over the people except that furn- 
ished. 

COAX. 

I was not able to obtain any definite information as to the existence 
of any valuable deposit of coal in Southeast Alaska. 

The officers of the Coast Survey have learned of such, and the locali- 
ties are described in their reports and in the Alaska Coast Pilot. In 
the latter reference is made to a presumed valuable deposit in Saint 
John's Bay, near Sitka. Tbis I didn't have examined, being led to 
delay so doing to give precedence to work of more apparent value, I 
being assured by parties who had undertaken to develop this mine that 
they found no coal of value. 

On Admiralty Island there is a coal mine at the head of Mitchell's 
Bay, but the coal is not valuable. On a little island in Sitka Harbor 
there are ''indications," and an enterprising merchant has sunk a 30- 
foot shaft, as yet finding nothing but salt water. 

Some of the Indians from Yak-e-tat described to me mines of coal in 
Bering's Bay. and wells of oil which would burn, probably petroleum. 

COPPER. 

Several explorers, among whom were Mr. Allen Francis. Edmund 
Bean, and others, have sought in vain for reported copper mines up the 
"Copper Mine River.'' No one has been able to find them: the Indians 
of the vicinity have shown fair specimens, and use the metal for axes, 
tobacco crushers. &c, I have seen some of these, and Mr. Beau pro- 
cured a large kuife of this metal. 

GRAPHITE A>~D SILVER. 

In Glacier Bay there are. on several of the islands, high bluffs, which 
are streaked with veins of graphite and arsenical silver. I have broken 
off from rocks near the water's edge pieces, which, upon assay, yielded 
from 10 to 40 ounces silver per ton and 50 per cent, graphite. 

IRON. 

I saw a few specimens of magnetic iron ore. and one of my objects in 
making the trip to Chilkhat was to search for a reported iron mine in 
the vicinity. The natives being at war. I could not carry out my plans. 
In conclusion, I would state that at the date of my leaving Sitka the 
country was at peace throughout, and my task of restoring harmonious 
relations on a permanent basis between the whites and Indians seemed 
to have been accomplished. 
Very respectfully, 

L. A. BEAUPSLEE. 
Captain. United States Xavy. 



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